Soldiers of a Different Kind
by SCM7
Summary: In the closing days of the Requiem Occupational Campaign, a SPARTAN-IV Fireteam goes rogue, heading after a supposed Forerunner technology cache. Deemed KIA in the aftermath of the Shield World's destruction, they were forgotten by the UNSC. But that was only part of the story... -CURRENT STATUS: ON HIATUS-
1. Introduction

**Disclaimer: Halo belongs to 343i, Bionicle belongs to LEGO.**

**CHAPTER ONE  
SHIELD WORLD 0001 - REQUIEM  
'LOCKUP' FACILITY  
FEBRUARY 16th, 2558**

Lieutenant Matt Clarke stepped away from the glowing hard-light hologram showing the inner surface of the artificial planet. Ignoring the two coloured dots on the Forerunner artifact- those were Fireteams Majestic and Crimson's problem, not theirs'- he focused in on a single continent- and then looked to the left of it.

Thirty dots were shown, hovering above the water. He checked his PDA again, pulling up the coordinates that were taken from a captured Storm Covenant database- they matched! That was the location of the Forerunner cache that the Covenant was after- at least, before his team had raided that command post…

**TWO DAYS EARLER – FEBRUARY 14th, 2558  
GD79-TC PELICAN STRONGARM-54  
EN ROUTE TO FORERUNNER STRUCTURE DESIGNATED 'BEACON'**

"Hey, LT, how much further do we have to fly?" Staff Sergeant Richard Michaelson called from across the troop transport's cargo bay. His answer wasn't delayed.

"What, would you like to walk instead? We've crossed over three rivers already- the last one was running quite fast, too. If we were on foot, by the time we got there, the Covies might have either activated the Forerunner tech inside- which would be bad for everybody involved- or our job would be stolen by one of the other fireteams who don't have a flight-ophobe on board."  
"Just saying, I have a bad feeling about these craft. They were made by the lowest bidder, you know!"

"Oy, what you saying about my bird?" A voice comes from the pilot's cabin- the third member of Fireteam Apex, Corporal Peter Samuels.  
"Nothing, just that it's a pile of crap that will be turned into a cloud of free-floating particles the second one of those Forerunner anti-air cannons that the Covenant just loves to spam all over the place looks at it funny."  
"No offense, but have you seen what Forerunner technology is capable of? Look around you- they have quite a bit of a technological advantage over us, even with them all gone and only their caretakers remaining."  
"Oh, both of you give it a rest. We'll get to the objective, kill the Covie bastards squatting there, then use whatever technology we scrounge up at that location to beef us up even more." That was the fourth- and final- member of Fireteam Apex: Sergeant Jeremy Martinez.

A red light comes on in the troop bay. "LZ coming into view, looks like the Covies have detected us."  
"Oh great, now comes the fuel rod cannons, then the screaming, then the fiery crash."  
"Quiet down, Rick. Pete, give them a taste of the missile pods."  
"Aye, sir." Corporal Samuels flipped the safety glass covering and pressed the button to fire the left wing missiles, which let loose a flurry of ANVIL-III missiles. The missiles flew across the gap, and impacted the two Phantoms lifting off from the clearing in front of the Forerunner spire. The result was somewhat enjoyable, if you liked firework displays, as the two Covenant craft detonated in brilliant blueish-purple explosions. The Covenant still on the ground started to retreat inside, but were too late as the Pelican's 70mm chin-mounted gatling cannon whirred to life and turned the Covenant soldiers into multicoloured puffs of mist.

The Pelican quickly swung around, dropping off the three ground-pounder SPARTAN-IVs, who used their suit's inbuilt thruster packs to land safely on the ground. "We'll secure the structure, and hold it until the garrison troops arrive to fortify it. Pick us up then, eh?"  
"You got it, LT!" With that, the Pelican took off, to maintain air coverage for the team- preventing additional Covenant forces from landing. The team quickly proceeded into the Forerunner structure. Aside from a few Covenant Zealots, there were no other enemies inside- and they soon found out why. Sentinels were floating around in the various upper levels, the ground littered with Covenant corpses with energy weapon burns. Oddly enough, the Sentinels on Requiem never attacked UNSC forces, although they were more than hostile to Covenant soldiers and Promethean constructs. Still, the soldiers of Fireteam Apex gave the Forerunner robots a wide berth.

Very quickly, they cleared the site, and placed beacons down for ordnance pods to be dropped outside. When the pods dropped, though, a single Covenant soldier ran out of the structure- apparently very well hidden during their sweep, and barely made it to the edge of the woods before one of the ordnance pods dropped on its head- with obvious effects. Fireteam Apex quickly ran back down to the bottom level- an entire inner wall of the facility had vanished, revealing a chamber that was not there before. In the center of the chamber, an energy shield had been raised, covering a Zealot Elite, who were doing… something… with a piece of Forerunner technology. Between them and the Zealots, however, were ten Jackals, three General Elites with swords- and a single, massive Hunter, its armor scorched by what could have been Sentinel Beams.

"Take cover!" As Lieutenant Clarke uttered the order, Forerunner portable cover walls popped up in front of his team, which they were quick to hop behind. Moving their guns out of cover, they used their smart-linked scopes to deliver precision hits without exposing their bodies to danger- for the most part. The Jackals died quickly, knocked off balance by a shot to their partially exposed arm and then finished off by shots to the head. The Generals were tougher to deal with- and they were closing fast. One of them was suddenly cut off by a cover wall popping up in front of it, with the Covenant soldier slamming into it at full tilt.

The other two Generals were almost within range, when Fireteam Apex popped back up with their scavenged Plasma Pistols equipped. Two overcharged blasts later, the generals were unshielded- easy prey for Rick's M395 Designated Marksman Rifle. The Elites were quickly dispatched, the third Elite nailed with a plasma pistol shot and then drilled between the eyes shortly after navigating around the cover wall. And then the Hunter finally decided to join the battle.

The next few minutes consisted of a mad scramble around the room, searching for a Forerunner weapons cache, a Covenant supply station, anything with the firepower capable of taking down a raging Mgalekgolo. In the middle of the battle, the Forerunner device activated, showing a large star map, with a list of coordinates. The Zealot pushed down on a single set- which zoomed in on a landmass, with dots hovering over the shore. And then a humming noise echoed through the chamber- the Sentinels were coming. Beams of white-hot plasma cut through the air, impacting the Hunter, burning into its gestalt body of worms- and coming out the other side. The Hunter finally let out a moan and fell to the ground.

Fireteam Apex turned to the Zealot, which looked at the group, before grabbing two plasma grenades and sticking them to the Forerunner artifact in the center of the room. A flash of blue- and the artifact was destroyed. The shield quickly dissipated- the Zealot had no shields after the detonation- and everybody fired at the same time. The Zealot virtually melted under the combined discharge of the Sentinels' plasma beams and the SIV Fireteam's bullets. With all hostiles dead, the Sentinels suddenly turned around and headed for the door. Lieutenant Clarke watched them go- they reached the outer door of the complex, and vanished into slipspace portals. At the same time, UNSC Army Pelicans arrived, dropping off their complement of troops and Warthogs, then flying off. The Troopers began setting up automated turrets in the entrance hall and the ground level of the facility, getting ready to occupy the structure.

Strongarm-54 circled around, and picked up Fireteam Apex, after they had finished assisting the Army Troopers with setting up their defense network. "So, what did you find down there, LT?" Corporal Samuels asked, shortly after taking off.  
"Hell if I know- the Covenant destroyed it too quickly. Isn't doing so a sin in their culture?"  
"You can never tell with these fanatics. It could be good to do one day and the worst heresy the next."  
"Hmm. I guess you're right."

**'LOCKUP' FACILITY  
FEBRUARY 16th, 2558**

Lieutenant Clarke pulled up his comm system. "How much time do we have left?" The answer was swift. "Three hours, LT, then we're all taking a stellar bath in Epoloch."  
"Thanks for the mental image, Samuels. I'm ready for pick-up."  
"Affirmative, be there in a few seconds."  
"A few seconds? Where are you, Corporal?" A Pelican suddenly appears, flying towards the Lockup Cartographer. "Really enjoying that active camouflage that Infinity's Engineers gave you, huh?"  
"Damn right, especially for this mission you have us set up for."  
"How many Marines were you able to convince to come along?"  
"Not many, just seven individuals. Four of them are Air Force- they brought their own birds too!"

"That's more than I was expecting. What do they fly?" Clarke reaches down into the Cartographer, pulling out four data collection devices. The map display shuts off, it's information- and it's data- all downloaded onto the devices.  
"Two Broadswords and one Longsword, why do you ask?"  
"Just curious." Walking forward, Lieutenant Clarke steps off the edge of the tower, and into the cargo bay of the Pelican. The doors close behind him, and he feels the slight pull of G-forces as the Pelican hits it's afterburners.

**ONE HOUR LATER  
REQUIEM EASTERN CONTINENT- 80 KILOMETERS OFFSHORE**

"Okay, we're here. Sergeant Martinez, you're up first. Your target is the large craft designated Central Transport. We'll fly above it, you'll drop off on top of it."  
"Got it. What happens when I land?"  
"Head for the nearest access port. Here, you'll need this." He handed Martinez one of the data sticks. "I took this from the Lockup facility. It holds both a section of data on the shield world- and schematics for the type of ship you'll be boarding. Once you're at the command console, open the command frequency, try and take control of as many ships as possible. Don't ask how I know this, it was just something that popped up when I was looking at the Lockup Cartographer."  
A few seconds after that, Sgt. Martinez hopped out the back of the Pelican, his jetpack guiding him onto the large two kilometer long vessel ahead. The Marines followed- all of them wearing SPI armor. The Lieutenant checked the status screen- thirty seconds later, everybody's status lights blinked green.

A few minutes later, it was his turn. "Corporal Samuels, Sergeant Michaelson? It's been an honour serving with you. Here, take these data sticks- they'll help you with navigating around the big one and powering it on."  
"You too, LT. See you on the other side." And with that, Lieutenant Clarke jumped out the back of the Pelican, lining himself up with the Forerunner craft beneath him, making course corrections when necessary. Seven seconds later, the twin Broadswords flew overhead, followed by the Longsword. "Good luck, guys." He landed. Hard. He slowly climbed to his feet, and checked the time counter on his HUD. 105 minutes remaining. Should be enough time to get the ships started up and out of the planet- that is, if Crimson couldn't stop the shield world from dunking itself into its star.

_**(85 MINUTES ON THE CLOCK)**_  
LT. Clarke found an access panel, and opened it up. Climbing inside, he was greeted with the appearance of a Sentinel, which scanned him- and then moved away. He started walking in one direction- and his comm system activated.  
"To get to the control room, go the other way."  
"Right. How is Martinez doing?"  
"Sergeant Martinez is nearly at the transport's bridge. I'm sending him the command codes now."  
"Good. What about the Fortress team?"  
"They've managed to find a hangar bay. Problem is, there are Covenant forces on that ship- they're in for a long fight. What is good news, however, is that the Covenant is in the process of turning the ship on."  
"How is that good news, Aeona?"  
"Because then two individuals don't have to run all over a 50km vessel in a mad scramble to flip the systems online?"  
"Good point."

_**(75 MINUTES ON THE CLOCK)**_  
Sergeant Martinez reported in. "I've secured Central Transport, moving it to the big ship now. I've managed to also take control of five additional vessels- that program sure is something."  
"Her name is Aeona."  
"Of course. Thanks, Aeona."  
"No problem. I am happy to assist."

_**(64 MINUTES ON THE CLOCK)**_  
He had finally got to the Dreadnought's bridge- after having activated the fast transit system allowing him to use the ship's portal network, which he utilized to get to the engine room, power it on under Aeona's guidance, and then quickly moving himself back to the ship's command deck. Sgt. Martinez had taken the time to dock additional craft inside the Fortress' large deployment bays- much to the confusion of more than a few CRS cruisers that were inside. All that were left was Central Transport, five Dreadnoughts- and the massive Fortress. He plugged his data stick into the command console- and Aeona quickly queried for command access to the other dreadnoughts. It would appear that they picked the right one, as the other four dreadnoughts suddenly blinked green- command access accepted.

_**(51 MINUTES ON THE CLOCK)**_  
"Aeona, patch me through to Sergeant Michaelson."  
"By your command."  
"...shit, Aeona, don't scare me like that."  
"...utenant? What's the problem?"  
"The problem is that we're almost at the point of no return. If you keep going, you will not be able to make it back to the hangar bay in time to successfully evacuate the planet."  
"LT, we knew the risks when we agreed to go on this mission. Plus, we're nearly there anyway!"  
"...fine. Godspeed, gentlemen- the rest of us will be waiting ever-so-patiently for you to get your asses in gear."

_**(16 MINUTES ON THE CLOCK)**_  
"Aeona, how are Sergeant Michaelson and Corporal Samuels doing?"  
"They've reached the bridge and are clearing it of Covenant forces now. Local Sentinel forces are helping them."  
"Tell them to report in when they're done. We're cutting it way too close here."  
"Will do, LT."  
The four dreadnoughts had been moved into the Fortress' capital deployment bays- to the misfortune of the CRS cruiser crews, as Covenant nanolaminate hulls went up against whatever exotic metal that Forerunner craft are made out of- and the Forerunner material won. The CRS cruisers were crushed up against the roof of the capital deployment bays like tin cans. Central Transport itself was docked in what was being called CDB #5.

_**(10 MINUTES ON THE CLOCK)**_  
The Fortress' IFF switched from yellow to green- and a familiar voice chimed over TEAMCOM. "We've secured the Fortress- what next?"  
"Aeona, plot us a course out of here!"  
The massive Fortress-class shifted ponderously to starboard, angling itself for the entrance portal. Lt. Clarke's Dreadnought followed alongside. "Come on, team, move faster!"  
And then the view outside the portal changed- they were now looking directly at the star. It wasn't fair- there was still seven minutes left on the countdown clock, they were so close, and now-

"Screw it, entering slipspace now!" Corporal Samuels' near-hysterical voice pierced through TEAMCOM, and a massive portal appeared in front of the Fortress. At the same time, a heavy battery on the Fortress swiveled around, and fired off a barrage of whatever exotic energies the Forerunners used for ammunition. By the damage it had dealt to his dreadnought, it was undoubtedly effective, and had it been a more coordinated placement of shots, it would have most likely rent his ship asunder. There was no time to ask what had happened- his own ship was entering a slipspace window, and the large dome that held the Fortress' command deck had already gone over into slipspace. And then… the vibrations set in.


	2. Arrival

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
FORERUNNER DREADNOUGHT**

A wide blue-white portal opens in the sky, and a burning ten kilometer craft flew out, turning slowly towards an island in the distance. As it flew, pieces of the vessel started falling off, dropping into the sea. "Aeona, pull up the closest possible escape craft on my HUD."  
"Yes, Lieutenant." The holographic image of Aeona disappeared from the ship's bridge as the display shut down. A door opened in the back of the bridge, cycling apart as Forerunner doors so often do. Lieutenant Matt Clarke reached forward and grabbed the data stick containing his AI- and his arm was pulled forward, as an armored gauntlet snapped closed around his left arm before sealing together.

The SPARTAN-IV snapped the data stick into his armor before gripping the gauntlet, trying to rip it off, only for Aeona to chip in. "Don't do that! It's a Forerunner interface device- I'll explain its' functions later, we have to go now!" Lt. Clarke started sprinting for the doorway, as a tortured screech of metal echoed throughout the ship. A hologram extended from the interface device- the image of the dreadnought, an entire 'wing' missing, and the rest of the ship's wireframe glowing red. He skidded into multiple walls as the vessel started tilting to the right, to the point where he was basically running along a corner. The escape vessel loomed ahead, and he jumped the rest of the way, slipping into the small Forerunner craft and punching the hardlight switch that Aeona highlighted as the launch button.

As the smallcraft exploded from the side of the ship, he checked the rear-view display, watching as the dreadnought underwent total structural failure, sections of the right 'wing' structure coming apart. Aeona offered a crash simulation. "Based on its current flight path, it will fly directly over the island and crash more than thirty kilometers offshore. There will be a tidal wave, but we will be safe from it." The Forerunner smallcraft continued to descend towards the island, which quickly showed signs of being inhabited, with structures extending from almost five-sixths of its' surface. Coming in further, the smallcraft quickly picked up movement… lots of movement. Quite a lot of that movement was heading towards the section of the island-city where the dreadnought was passing over.

"Aeona, bring us down as quick and as stealthy as you can."  
"Affirmative. Locking in a course now. I suggest you occupy your time securing yourself into your seat- I don't have full control over this craft's landing systems."  
"Just great."  
The craft dropped down below the city's spires, it's shields raising to maximum intensity- and then it scraped against a building, sending it into a tumble. It spun around towards the ground, the AG systems doing their job- and then, impact.  
It bounced once, twice- it hit something on the second jump- and slid to a stop on the third contact with the ground.

**METRU NUI- LE-METRU DISTRICT  
ONE MONTH AFTER GREAT CATACLYSM**

Onewa was more than angry. The plan to take control of a Visorak outpost was going smoothly enough- and then that massive airship plummeted from the sky, waking up nearly every single spider in the city and bringing their outposts to full alert. Including the one he was staring at. The beast within him snarled at him to charge in, tear the spiders apart, and either emerge victorious or go down swinging. The Toa mentality was the only thing that held him back- if he were to fall here, his teammates would be down a member- and Mata Nui only knew what might come of that eventuality.

Instead, he slowly slunk backwards- and froze. Something else was bearing down from the sky, something large, and un-aerodynamic. He readied his Rhotuka spinner, in case it was hostile. And then his instincts tripped- something was staring at him. He slowly started to turn around, preparing to lash out- and his eyes widened.

Two Roporak spiders were staring straight at him, their natural camouflage wearing off as their spinners began to charge up. But that was not what scared him- it was what was in between the two Roporak. The most dangerous breed of spider looked back, its eyes filled with menace. The Kahgarak didn't have its' spinner activated- but it was more than capable of defeating him in a one-on-one fight anyway. It charged forwards to grasp the Hordika in its mandibles. Onewa evaded, dodging to the side just in time. A thunderous impact sounded to his right, he chanced a look at it- and the un-aerodynamic chunk of metal he spotted bounced back into the air for a few [feet] before coming back down, right on top of the Kahgarak. Metal met spider, and the spider lost. The piece of metal also intercepted the two Roporak spinners as it passed by, and quickly came to a stop. The two Roporak were just as shaken by the sudden death of the Kahgarak as Onewa was- but the Hordika recovered first, and the spiders didn't. And in the space of fifteen seconds, they never would.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
INSIDE FALCO ESCAPE POD #46**

Lieutenant Clarke got to his feet. The inside of the craft was completely dark- the power system had failed somewhere along the escape pod's bouncing path. He pulled up the interface device- it still worked.  
"Aeona, what's our current status?"  
No reply.  
"Aeona, respond!"  
He opened the interface screen, white light suddenly stabbing into his eyes, his visor quickly polarizing against the brightness as it slowly dimmed down to a manageable level. Multiple images rotated around the display- one showing the wireframe of the dreadnought, now completely blinking red- another one showing a wireframe of the escape craft he was currently standing in, the floating text above it indicating it as a 'Falco' model- and it was mostly green, with the only yellow bits being the underside of the craft.

He was unconcerned about either of these two images, only focusing on the condition of his AI. Scrolling through the various menus, he logged several of them for later investigation- especially the one designated 'Weapons'- before finding a 'search' function. He typed in 'Aeona'. The device spun closed. "Goddamnit!" The LT shouted, grabbing at the interface device- and quickly pulling his fingers back, as it spiraled back open, hardlight unfolding like a Jackal point defense gauntlet's shield. The menu appeared on the inside of the shield- only with a single icon on it, the symbol that Aeona used to identify herself: the screaming eagle of the UNSC, sitting on top of a massive tree.

Lieutenant Clarke pressed the button- a single text file popped up on his HUD.

FIRETEAM APEX  
I AM DAMAGED  
REPAIR FUNCTIONS ACTIVATED  
FULL USER INSTRUCTIONS FOR FORERUNNER WARRIOR-SERVANT INTERFACE DEVICE ENCLOSED WITHIN

The text file closed shortly afterwards, Aeona's symbol replaced by that of a question mark- the near universal icon for 'Help'. He pressed it- and a bunch of icons popped up on the screen, each one glowing around the edges. He pulled back up the escape pod's wireframe- it was still green, the yellow section being covered up by the ground around the craft. With his immediate safety more or less guaranteed, he sat down and began sifting through the files, familiarizing himself with the system.

**METRU NUI- LE-METRU DISTRICT  
UNKNOWN SMALL-CRAFT CRASH SITE**

Onewa paced around the unknown chunk of debris. There were no windows, no identifying markings, it was just uniform metal with few decorations on it. He knew one of his fellow Toa was in the area- his job was to strike at Visorak supply chains between the larger Metru command post and the outlying outposts. After this object landed, however, it was only a matter of time until the outposts sent their own group of spiders to investigate, and the mission was compromised. It was time to leave. He turned to start running away- and the metal chunk lit up with blue and white lines for around fifteen seconds before going black again. Perhaps it was more than just a random section of debris. The position was somewhat defensible, after all...

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
INSIDE FALCO ESCAPE POD #46  
TEN MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke finished his exploration of the interface system. Most of the functions were still locked out, either due to insufficient security clearance- the Lieutenant found out that that was a thing when he tried to access some of the more interesting programs- or by Aeona herself. Bringing up the escape pod again, he tried to get its' systems back online. It took some doing, but suddenly the lights flipped back on- both inside and outside. The SIV quickly accessed the system list, selecting all outer lights and switching them off. At least the escape pod had an armory- at least, that's what it indicated on the display. Moving to the rear of the craft, he pulled the hatch open- a row of weapon lockers sat on the wall, the first one holding three Forerunner LightRifles, or as they were apparently designated by the Forerunners, Z-250 Directed Engagement Energy Weapons.

He reached in, grabbing the closest one. It snapped open, its' hardlight core glowing orange. It had a full repository of shots. Good. He raised the rifle up, flipping a slider button right behind the scope- as he saw in one of the files in the interface device. The rifle's barrel suddenly became longer, a portion of the rifle's casing sliding forward and locking into place. Two red tracer lights appeared on the sides of the weapon, which he quickly pressed back into the weapon, disabling the laser tracers. '_Wouldn't be good if I were to telegraph my presence_,' he thought. He moved the switch to its original position, and then drew it completely back. The rifle snapped closed, and he put it on his back. He repeated the process with one other rifle, before looking further inside. There was some Z-250 ammunition in the next weapon locker, which he quickly slipped into one of his armour's ammo storage compartments.

The next weapon holder contained several Boltshot pistols. Once again, the interface device gave him the correct designation when he picked one up- Z-110 Directed Exotic Energy Sidearms. He took two of them, and raided the rest for ammunition. Another group of lockers contained Promethean armor attachments- most of them rendered useless due to the interface device's capabilities. He took the 'Z-2500' Forerunner Autosentry generator, as that was one of the only armor attachments that weren't covered by the interface device. He also took two other armor attachments, covering all his bases.

There were only two more lockers- one contained Z-040 'Pulse Grenades', which he quickly put into another ammunition compartment. And the other one… whew. The big one- a Z-390 High-Explosives Munitions Rifle, or as it was better known by UNSC forces, the Incineration Cannon. He reached forward to pick it up, but stopped. He was already loaded down with weaponry, and the Z-390 wasn't exactly ergonomic. He left it there, but sealed the locker tightly.

Lieutenant Clarke left the armory, grabbing his BR85 HBSR on the way out, snapping his scavenged trio of modified plasma pistols to his magnetic thigh holsters, and placing the Autosentry armor ability on his back. He sealed the armory door behind him, and switched the escape pod's systems off, one by one... then hesitated on the sensor network option. Before he flipped it off, he took a look at his surroundings- and his eyes widened in surprise.


	3. Contact?

**CHAPTER 3  
CONTACT?**

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
INSIDE FALCO ESCAPE POD #46  
17 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

It was almost pure chaos outside the escape pod. Two armored individuals- like SPARTANS, and yet somewhat misshapen- were pinned down in a partially collapsed structure just twenty-five meters away. Pulling up visual sensors, Lieutenant Clarke found that they were being attacked by- "The hell?" The aggressor forces had four legs- like the Promethean Crawlers he was used to fighting on Requiem- and yet their body shapes, and those gnashing mandibles, were representative of... spiders. "I frigging hate spiders."

He transferred the sensor network scans onto his HUD, which quickly pulled up wireframe images of where the spiders' positions were. He walked to the exit hatch, pressed the small button to open the door, and prepared to engage. The door cycled open, he triggered his suit's active camouflage system, chanced a peek -the enemy didn't seem to acknowledge his presence- then swung around the doorframe, ready to start shooting- and took a Oohnorak spinner to the chest, knocking him on his ass.

Matt groaned- it felt like there were pins and needles all over his body. His shield took the energy impact- it was completely drained, but started to recharge within ten seconds. He reached down, grabbed his BR, and got back into a sitting position. The black spider was fifteen feet away, approaching slowly- he aimed down the sight and squeezed the trigger. Three 9.5x40mm semi-armor-piercing rounds streaked forwards, impacting the spider's body- and two of them glanced off. _'Shit.'_ That wasn't good- and now the spider knew he was there. It sped up, moving at full speed to the hatch. Lieutenant Clarke triggered the door to close, and fired at the spider as it moved.

It was halfway inside when the pod's hatch cycled closed- right into the spider. With the creature now held in place, Lt. Clarke rolled to the side, and emptied his clip into the spider's underbelly. It sunk to the floor. Clarke reloaded, brought the gun to his shoulder- and fired two more bursts into the spider's eye. It immediately started moving again- a third burst penetrated its brain and put it down for good.

_'That was one spider. And there are about thirty more out there. This isn't going to end well.'_

**METRU NUI- LE-METRU DISTRICT  
UNKNOWN CRAFT CRASH SITE  
15 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Nuju Hordika was not having a nice day. His objective- to halt or destroy Visorak supply chains in the area, while looking for propulsion systems for the airships that they would need to transport the Matoran to the island above, was going as well as could be expected- at least, until something decided to crash down next to the city, dropping debris all the way. And then something else landed right next to the outpost that they wanted to capture, attracting Mata Nui only knows how many Visorak to its location. And for some reason, Onewa wanted to hold his position, because according to him, the object glowed!

A trio of sharp staccato sounds cut through the air, drawing attention to a small indent in the hull. A figure stood there, holding something in its arms, brief bursts of light coming from the end of the tool. The Oohnorak being targeted by the armored figure didn't seem to care about the incoming light, and charged towards the opening- which suddenly spiraled closed on it. Its legs stopped moving for a few seconds afterwards- and then jerked around erratically before slumping to the ground again. The doorway did not open.

Nuju turned his attention back to the area that he was supposed to be guarding- and narrowly dodged a Rhotuka spinner, which released acid upon contact with the opposite wall. Looking back to where the spinner came from, he saw three Keelerak on an overwatch position, which gave them an ability to curb their movements even more. At least Matau most likely wasn't having as bad of a problem- though whether or not that was a good thing or not, Nuju couldn't decide.

Unknown to the Toa, two Vohtarak started climbing another wall, getting into position to finish the engagement and end two of the annoyances roaming the city.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
INSIDE FALCO ESCAPE POD #46  
20 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke watched the battle unfolding from his interface device. He saw everything- the three hostiles sitting on a roof, firing down at the unfortunate armored duo. He saw the two other spiders climbing the building, moving into another position that would checkmate the two soldiers. He saw the group of spiders in the street, firing energy blasts into the building. And he saw the three spiders pulling at the back legs of the one he just killed- whether trying to get it loose or to tear it into pieces to devour later, he did not know. What he knew was that the two individuals trapped in the building would be overwhelmed if he did not do anything.

He sighed, opened one of his grenade storage attachments, and pulled out a pulse grenade. He closed it back up, took the SAP ammo out of his BR85, and loaded in AP ammo instead. Clarke armed the grenade, pressed the button to open the door, and chucked it- right into the jaws of the first spider. The attenuation field snapped open- the spider squealed in pain as its compatriots backed away- and Clarke came out shooting. The nearest spider took half of his magazine to put down- even with every shot being directly on target, directly in the center of its' 'face'. The attenuation field closed halfway through, turning the main body of the spider into orange dust.

The other spider started charging towards him. He lined up the barrel with its head, started shooting- and activated his jetpack, at the cost of 25% of his shield strength. This gave him the height he needed to land directly on its' thorax, still shooting. It went down with nine bullets still left in the magazine. He brought the gun to bear on the two red-coloured spiders flanking the two soldiers, their back-mounted energy weapons charging up- and he put a burst into both. The spiders were suddenly engulfed in flame. One of the green overwatch spiders turned towards him, he fired off the last three shots in the mag- and the spider slumped over the side of the building, its' eye, and its' brain, turned into mush by the AP rounds.

Clarke grabbed his spent mag, jammed a fresh one into place, pulled back on the loading lever, and switched to full-auto. He dodged to the side with his thruster pack- another energy blast just barely missing him- and he put eleven rounds into the spider that fired it. Obviously not enough to kill it, as it started to charge up another shot- a quick switch to single-shot, and the spider's midsection suddenly turned to dust. He blinked- paused for a split second- and another spinner grazed his arm. A slight burning sensation traveled down his arm- the majority of the effect unknowingly blocked by the SPARTAN-IV's shielding systems. The spider that fired that one didn't survive the torrent of shots put into it.

Ten bullets left in the magazine- and Clarke made them count. Another overwatch spider fell from its perch, landing heavily in front of the soldiers. In the middle of reloading, a brown spider jumped off of the crashed escape craft, tackling him to the ground. He barely grabbed onto its' outer mandibles in time, struggling to keep its' jaws away from his face…

**METRU NUI- LE-METRU DISTRICT  
UNKNOWN CRAFT CRASH SITE  
21 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

That unknown armored figure was back, this time outside the craft. Nuju watched in his peripheral vision as the Matoran-sized individual tossed a glowing orange cube into a Suukorak's jaws, before turning slightly to the right and firing small blasts of flame at the Oohnorak standing there, bringing it down. What happened next was interesting, if not a bit foolhardy- the armored figure stood still as another Oohnorak charged at it, only to launch itself into the air and land on the spider's body, still firing the entire time. It suddenly pulled its' weapon up, and fired again at something above and to the left of them- two sudden sources of light blossomed from that area. Another triple-crack- and only two Keelerak remained to hinder their movement.

The sounds resumed at a much higher rate in a couple of seconds, but Nuju was unable to see what was going on. The heavy thud of a body hitting the ground in front of the two Hordika indicated that there was only one spider left up top- Onewa's Rhotuka soon dispatched it. Nuju looked down, saw that the unknown figure was struggling against a Roporak, and fired off his own Rhotuka to assist- the unknown Matoran potentially saved their lives, now it was time to repay the favor.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
OUTSIDE FALCO ESCAPE POD #46  
24 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke was pushing as hard as he could, but the spider had both weight and height advantage. And all of a sudden, it's left side was coated in ice, it's body rendered immovable- giving him enough time to put his left arm in between the spider and him, open the shield-menu- the hardlight edge cutting into the spider's leg armor- and selecting the blade function. The shield suddenly collapsed, forming into a sword running down his arm- he drew back and stabbed the creature right through the mouth, the blade biting deep and coming out the top of the spider's head. With a jerk, he lifted the spider ever enough to open a space where he could slide through, and activated his armor's thruster pack. The blade's monomolecular edge cut through the entire body of the spider on its way down, coming out the spider's rear and nearly slicing the creature in two. He came to a stop, right at the door of his escape pod, which had cycled shut, got to his feet, and brought his battle rifle to bear.

The eight Visorak that were left started to retreat- but not quick enough, and their numbers were brought down to six- then five, as a red-coloured one strayed too close to the building in which the soldiers had hunkered down in, and was sent flying by an energy impact into the building across the street.

The door didn't respond to his access code- he realized why, as the access panel's hardlight emitters had been melted by something. The two soldiers started leaving the building- he saw their misshapen appearances- and didn't want to make contact. Yet. Checking to see if his cloaking system was still active- which it was- he disappeared into the mist…


	4. Evasion and Relocation

**CHAPTER FOUR  
EVASION AND RELOCATION**

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
28 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke sprinted down the street, the interface device guiding him to the next closest piece of Forerunner technology, which was… eighteen kilometers away. Oh joy. On second thought, perhaps he could secure a mode of faster travel first- hoofing it the entire way would be a waste of energy and valuable ammunition. An icon appeared on his interface device- acknowledging it pulled up a status screen, concerning… his active camouflage system. This could be bad. Reading the status message, he found out that his suit's reactive light panels were oddly disrupted, most likely due to that energy discharge that hit him earlier. Summing it up, from medium- to long-range, he appeared shorter than he actually was. The problem was that he appeared at all- active camouflage is supposed to render him completely invisible, not generate optical illusions. He checked his ammunition storage for his BR85- 18 shots remaining in the loaded magazine, and only one [full] mag left. After that was spent, it's back to SAP ammo- which did even less to the spiders than the AP rounds.

No time to concern himself any further- he heard the clicking of the spiders' spear-like feet approaching ahead, and quickly ducked into a building's entrance-way. Clarke watched as a whole horde of them charged past, heading towards the crash site- about double the number that were in the previous engagement, and judging by the clicking in the surrounding streets, there were a lot more inbound. If the strangers he saw were people… no, their proportions were too off, too twisted, to be so. The spiders passed by outside, and the sounds of battle quickly reached his position.

For all he knew, the strange, misshapen soldiers were mechanical warriors- this planet's version of Sentinels or Promethean Knights. He owed them nothing- and chances were they'd be just as hostile to him as the armored spiders were. Venturing back into the street, he continued on.

A few kilometers and thirty minutes down the street, the howling of some wild beast drove him inside another structure. He could see in the distance, his VISR cutting through the fog, some sort of oddly-shaped animals fighting against a group of spiders. At their back was a hunched figure, waving a spear around, and- at odd intervals- firing energy blasts from a weapon mount on his back. _'The spiders are hunting for food? They're about to receive a surprise.'_ He started up the stairs of the building, snapping his BR85 to his back as he went, and switching it out for one of the Z-250s. He opened the access door to the roof- a white spider was in front of him, facing the direction of the howls, but starting to turn around- and he impaled its face with the hardlight blade, slicing down and to the side, before pulling the blade free. The spider slumped to the ground- and the LT stabbed it again, this time opening up its' head. He saw a mess of cords running along- and sometimes through- organic matter.

_'Biomechanical creatures? That's interesting. Is this some sort of alien wargame, testing out designs to see what could work best? And if so, what would they do to me if either their creators or the creatures themselves captured me?'_ Ahead, pained and panicked howls echoed throughout the area- the spiders had finally had enough and simply shot the wolf-analogues with their energy weapons. Some were intact, albeit not moving. Some were 'hurt'. And others had had holes melted through them. The hunchback figure had been clipped as well, and was trying to get away. The spiders closed in.

"Choose a side, Clarke," the LT muttered to himself. "I pick 'the ones that don't look like arachnids' for 1000 creds." He raised the rifle to his shoulder.  
**  
METRU-NUI- LE-METRU DISTRICT  
65 MINUTES SINCE TOUCHDOWN**

Rahaga Bomonga wasn't having much luck with his rescue mission. While the Toa were busy scavenging for parts for their airships while trying to retake a section of the city, he was trying to move Rahi away from the soon-to-be battle zone. Then something on fire flew over the city, waking up and alerting every single one of the poisonous Rahi. And now, the solitary Kavinika wolf he was hunting joined up with a pack and decided to engage a Visorak patrol. He tried to help- if only so the stealers of life wouldn't claim another group of victims- but was taken down himself. Now the spiders were closing in… and a bright red beam of light lashed out from a nearby rooftop, spearing into the lead Keelerak and knocking it to the left slightly- and then the poisoner mostly disintegrated into orange dust, leaving a few metal pieces behind. A second beam hit the right-most spider- another Keelerak- and had the same effect. The three remaining spiders shifted their attention to the structure, started charging their spinners, and fired. Upon impact, one side of the rooftop collapsed- and then two more beams of orange light struck out from the other side, hitting another two Visorak and changing them into nothing more than glowing flakes and leftover metal.

The final Visorak started charging towards the structure. A figure jumped down from the roof, slowing its descent with some sort of propulsion device on its' back. It drew some sort of object from its' back, swapping it with an object already in its' hands. Flashes of light jumped from the tool straight at where the Visorak's eyes would be, and the Rahi stumbled, coming to a halt near the armored figure, which pulled back its left arm- encased it in white light- and stabbed down. The figure walked away from the now deceased Rahi, towards him- and then it suddenly grew in size, no longer the size of a Matoran, but almost the height of a Toa. It stopped, looked down at itself, and took off down a side street.

The paralysis inflicted by the Visorak spinners was wearing off. It was time to be elsewhere, lest the Kavinika dine on him as well.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
67 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

_'Forerunner weaponry works well, provided I hit them in critical areas. The problem is still ammunition.'_ Clarke thought to himself as he ran down yet another street. _'I need to find another weapons cache soon- especially if what this interface device is telling me is true.'_ Still, there was the other objective- find a vehicle for rapid transportation. And now his active camouflage had deactivated itself- the armor probably doing self-repair, as the scientists who gave him the GEN2 MJOLNIR suit said that it was capable of.

Even though his UNSC and Forerunner weapons were running low, the scavenged plasma pistols would always have a source of energy nearby- his suit's fusion reactor. At least he had something he could depend on- but the plasma pistols themselves wouldn't fair well against the armored spiders. Setting them to self-destruct would work- but he'd only have three improvised grenades with that strategy, and jury-rigged plasma pistols had a tendency to explode at random occasions, not just when one wanted them to.

Once again, the clicking of spider claws came from his right, down another street. Another patrol. He hid behind the wall of a destroyed structure- eight spiders came into view shortly afterwards. Seven of them were the standard fare he'd been seeing- red, white, and black- but the eighth one was twice as big as the rest. He watched as the big one looked around, before continuing towards the crash site. Well. That could pose a problem in the future. He needed more ammunition, and he needed it now.

Clarke continued on, this time moving just a little bit faster. A few minutes later, the sounds of battle behind him faded to nothing. He could imagine what had happened- the spiders had overwhelmed the two defenders- and now they would start spreading outwards, discover the two dead ones he had butchered, and attempt to track him down. He broke into an all-out sprint.

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
72 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Onewa snarled. That Matoran had just up and left them to get piled on by what appeared to be every single Visorak in the Metru. They fought well, but when that Kahgarak showed up, it was time to retreat- that word increased his anger, just thinking about it. Nuju probably felt the same way- the two of them together compounded their frustration, and it was only the memories of what they once were that kept them from turning on each other in their irritation.

On their round-about way back to their pitiful hideout, Nuju noticed something move, running quickly between structures- then stopping and hiding for a minute as a Visorak patrol passed by. He focused in on the unknown movement- and saw the armored figure, larger this time. It leaned out of cover, looking in the direction in which the Visorak patrol traveled- and then continued forward. The two Hordika started following it- the meeting with the rest of the Hordika and the Rahaga could wait.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
ONE HOUR 44 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke knew he was being followed. He saw shapes moving in his rear-view camera- shapes that never got close enough to be identified. He kept moving at a good pace, but equipped his BR85, loaded with AP rounds- and readied his hardlight blade for deployment at a moment's notice. If something wanted to take him on, he would at least try to make it bleed- if it even could. A large building loomed up ahead- a cylindrical structure. The ever-present webbing ran to-and-from it, and he could see a bit of movement on the outer walls. He checked the indicator again. The Forerunner tech had moved, as had he. The two icons were now within 1200 meters of each other. The LT ran the numbers in his head- then groaned. It was smack-dab, right in the center of that spider fortress. One of the creatures must have picked it up and carried it back to its nest. The next closest tech piece was… twenty-five kilometers away. Nope. Too far- at least, without vehicles. He heard a tapping sound behind him- he quickly pivoted around, his rifle being brought to bear- and then heard a deep thud, once again, behind him, followed by a long variable-pitched growl.

**METRU NUI- LE-METRU DISTRICT  
ONE HOUR 46 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Nuju Hordika had had enough of this Muaka-and-Stone Rat game- he drew the mysterious figure's attention to a single spot by throwing a few rocks at it, and then jumping down behind the armored individual. "Who are you? What are you?" He snarled, stamping down on the bestial aspects rising inside him, the urge to grab, to tear, to kill- he flattened them all down inside him. He suspected Onewa might not have been able to do so. "Answer me!"

A glowing shield suddenly extended from its' left arm, slamming into him and pushing him back about half a bio. He heard the sound of Onewa leaping off of a second building, saw him landing to the right of the being, side-stepping and knocking away its sword stab, and punching it in the face. The armored figure collapsed, apparently knocked senseless by the blow, its' weapon sliding out of its' hand, and the white energy blade dissipating. Nuju quickly positioned himself between Onewa and the unknown being. "The other Toa," he said, reminding both himself and hopefully Onewa of what they really were, "will want to see this."


	5. Capture

**CHAPTER FIVE  
CAPTURE**

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
SCHOOL COMPLEX  
FIVE HOURS AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

"Three hours of lugging this armor around, avoiding Visorak patrols, to return to our hideout- only to find that the others had gone out in search for us," Onewa grumbled. "Now we have to either wait here for them to come back, or one of us goes out in search for the others while the other one watches over this stone rat." Nuju looks toward the unknown being, locked in a stone alcove, ready to volunteer for the duty- and then footsteps outside alerted both of them to the return of the Hordika. Matau was first through the door, already moaning about the wasted time and energy. Nokama came through next, trying to calm Matau down. Whenua followed afterwards, letting out yet another sigh. And Vakama… was completely silent. That couldn't be good.

"[What is that?]" Obviously, Matau's eyes spotted the newcomer first. He loped across the distance towards the grate, and peered inside. "[Whatever it is, it's not quick-moving.]" Whenua approached next.  
"It looks like a Toa, but its proportions are a bit off." The figure suddenly shifted, rolling over, reaching for something on its' hip- and grabbing at thin air. It then reached for something on its' back- still nothing. It opened up a hole on its' side, reached in- and retrieved nothing but air. It looked up, and a small blue circle appeared on its' arm. It pressed a symbol on the circle, pulled its' arm back, and a brilliant white blade extended from it. Matau and Whenua pulled back just in time, and the blade pierced nothing but air. Onewa's claw club quickly descended on the protruding limb, and the armored being yanked it back inside the bars, letting out a noise as it did so. It retreated to the rear of the alcove, brought its arm in front of it, and shielded itself behind a bluish-white barrier, lined with odd symbols. A stream of noises came from the other side of the shield.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
FIVE HOURS 5 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Matt Clarke was understandably rattled. He had been captured by a group of biomechanical creatures, imprisoned, and was most likely facing interrogation and/or death by either the biomechs or their creators. And to top it off, he was stripped of all his ranged and explosive weaponry. He shouted from the other side of the interface shield, "Who are you? What do you want with me?" His only answer was a collection of growls, varying in pitch. Great- even if they were trying to speak with him, he probably couldn't even understand them in the first place.

He opened his exterior comm system's option panel, and selected the language tab. He repeated his question in French, German, Hungarian, and on, throughout the various languages of the UNSC. No response. He backed out of the UNSC directory, and opened the one marked [KNOWN COVENANT LANGUAGES]. Scrolling through the list, there was still no response- though the grumbling noise of the Lekgolo caused the red one to begin stalking towards the prison, and the blue one to step in its path. He repeated his question- but the creature turned away, uttering a low growl, and no other response was given.

Clarke opened the next file- the one uploaded by the interface device. He began cycling through the languages there, still no response. The blue one slowly approached the bars, stopping right outside blade range, and let out its own series of soft guttural noises. He quickly went back to the language he had selected before, and asked, "Do you understand me?" It growled again, softer this time. He quickly copied the snarl, uploaded it into a new file and folder, and placed it in the translation program. He repeated it.

**METRU NUI- GA-METRU DISTRICT  
SCHOOL COMPLEX  
5 HOURS 11 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Nokama listened carefully, trying to interpret the odd noises that were issuing from the unknown being. If only her Kanohi were still usable, then she could easily understand what the armored figure was trying to say- and then it spoke to her.  
"Are you trying to communicate with us?"  
Nokama pulled back a bit- that was her voice, being repeated back to her! The individual must be capable of some form of mimicry. She recovered, decided it was worth a try, and responded. "Yes, I am. My name is Nokama."  
A few seconds passed- and then the armored figure repeated the phrase back to her. It suddenly shifted, pressing at a symbol on the shield, and then another one. Additional symbols started to appear on the screen- unknown glyphs, grouped up and separated into individual boxes. Not a single one was in a known language. "I don't understand any of this…" This frustrated her- she was a teacher, an intellectual! And yet she was completely useless in this situation, the Hordika venom rendering her mask power inert. The inner beast rose up, and she punched the wall in irritation. Her fist sunk through the protodermis steel. She quickly realized her mistake, looked back at the individual- and it had retreated even farther, it's back against the wall.

"[Don't bother with it, water-sister]," Matau's voice came from across the chamber. "[It's probably some sort of Rahi-beast anyway- chances are, it would kill you just as easily as it did those Visorak, and not worry-fret a bit afterwards.]"

Whenua spoke next. "Well, it responds to our voices, so it possibly has some degree of intelligence. It also tried to mimic our voices- maybe it's the Krahka?" Nuju responded. "If it were the Krahka, Onewa wouldn't have defeated it so easily. And it would have busted free by now."  
Onewa scoffed. "So quick to write me off, brother? How do you know that the Krahka wouldn't have been defeated so easily?"  
"Because the last time we faced her, it took the six of us to bring her down, and even then, it was less of us defeating her than her losing control," Whenua replied.

"[So? She could be posing as being soft-weak, waiting until our backs are back-turned, and then quick-striking like a Doom Viper.]"  
"Or it could be a newcomer, someone from one of the other lands south of here. We know the gates to the city were sealed, but the Cataclysm could have opened up a few of the passageways. This stranger could possibly not know our language."  
"But it's no stranger to the Visorak, though," Nuju stated. "This individual killed quite a few of them when it came out of its craft, and if what Rahaga Bomonga said was true, it saved him from a hunting party."  
Onewa spoke again. "Maybe it's a Visorak trap? Loyal to the Horde's leaders, it kills a few of the spiders, gains our trust, and then delivers us all into the jaws of the Horde."

"Hmm. What do you think, Vakama?" Whenua turns around, addressing the Toa team's leader- and finds nothing but air.  
"[Hey, maybe the fire-spitter got his mask powers back! Mask-maker, are you there?]" No response. The door is partially open. "[Well, looks like he's taken a quick-walk. Even during a meeting.]"

**METRU NUI- GA-METRU DISTRICT  
CROSSING BETWEEN GA-METRU AND TA-METRU  
5 HOURS 38 MINUTES SINCE TOUCHDOWN**

Vakama moved fast. He had an idea, but didn't know how long the Toa would be together before they decided on a new plan and moved out without him. 'Without me…' the thought burned inside him, the Hordika part of his identity shaping and molding it into aggression. 'Without me, they would be nothing. Mahi, grazing in the fields, while the Muaka prowls around, looking for the weakest one… and then striking, taking its' fi- NO!' Vakama came down hard on his thoughts, pushing them deep down inside him. He kept moving, reaching the debris bridging the two Metru and running over it.

Two Boggarak blocked his way- he evaded one spinner, launched his own to block the second one, and smashed into the right-most spider. His momentum served him well, as the spider was shoved back three bio, and he quickly made short work of the left-most spider with his blazer claw. The other spider began to charge up its' spinner, but Vakama was faster on the draw. The Boggarak soon found itself ablaze, and its' spinner's energy discharged into its' body. It very quickly turned to dust. The Hordika of Fire started sprinting again, aiming for a particular section of the city.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
5 HOURS 49 MINUTES SINCE TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke kept quiet, watching the five biomechs talk amongst themselves. He was finding it hard to consider them just as synthetic lifeforms- at least, in comparison with Sentinels and Promethean constructs. They talked, they laughed- or, at least, a few of them did, they sat around and discussed what he could only guess were battle plans against the spiders- the green one shifting around a lot, as if it was bored, and wanted to just get out in the field already… somewhat like most SIV fireteams. He wondered where his own team was at this moment- and why had the commandeered Fortress fired on him?  
Aeona mentioned that there were Covenant forces on board. Perhaps, in his haste to get out of the shield world, either Sergeant Michaelson or Corporal Samuels hadn't secured the weapon systems? Of course, his own panicked order probably didn't help much.

The green individual started gesturing- obviously, given the reactions of the other warri- _'Biomechs'_, he corrected himself, telling them of some sort of very 'expanded' tale. He couldn't help it- his attention was drawn to the unintelligible conversation being held across the room. The black one snorted and shook its' head- that, at least, was a nigh-on universal way of saying 'you're full of bullshit'. The green one soon stopped, especially after the angry brown one slapped it upside the head- once again, another recognizable gesture.

The green one stalked off to another corner, and returned with… one of the Z-250s! It was locked up, it's barrel closed and sealed. It waved it around a bit, pointing it outside the partially shattered window, closed its' eyes… and did nothing. It opened them again, and started shaking the weapon. The brown one walked over to it, grabbed the weapon from the green one's hands, and tried to do… something. It didn't work out, and the brown one threw it to the ground, snarling something- most likely saying 'damn thing's busted, it don't work'.

Clarke couldn't help it- he smirked at that. Whether it was just the inherent humor in the situation, or whether he had just the slightest tinge of smugness due to being able to operate Forerunner technology and they couldn't… and then the green one picked up his BR85. While the Z-250 had a biometric lock on it, the heavy barrel service rifle didn't- and by the way the green one was looking at its' outer surface, it would find the safety, turn it off, and shoot someon- _'Waste precious ammunition,'_ he corrected himself again. He quickly opened up his translation program, opened the folder with all the recorded sounds in it, selected one at random, and played it at full blast.

**METRU NUI- GA-METRU DISTRICT  
SCHOOL COMPLEX  
5 HOURS 57 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

"YOU'RE FULL OF IT, MATAU!"  
Everything froze. The Toa jumped- Matau dropped the odd-strange tool to the ground, where it landed with a soft thump. They all looked towards the small grate, and the armored figure behind it. Onewa was the first to speak. "Did… did that thing just speak? In our language? And call Matau out? Maybe it isn't so foreign after all!"

Nokama approached the bars again- once again, remaining out of blade distance. "Do you understand us now?" The individual remained still, not moving- and then a spatter of unfamiliar sounds came out, along with one-handed rapid gesturing to the tools that Matau had been fooling around with. "I'm sorry, I don't understand. We can't give you your tools back- not until we can understand each other." The shield started to diminish a bit, the arm being lowered…

"I believe I can help with that." Vakama's voice came from behind her- she wheeled around, startled, and Vakama pushed her out of the way. Grabbing the bars to the cage, he pulled the improvised cell open, and went inside. Instead of the energy blade she was expecting, the armored figure extended the shield again- and Vakama simply fired a spinner right above the being's head, causing a shower of flame to rain down on the individual's head, to which it raised the shield up instinctively to protect itself- and Vakama slapped a Kanohi on the being's helmet.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
5 HOURS 59 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Clarke had no idea what the biomech had just done- all he knew was that he was on the ground, he couldn't see well, and he needed to get up, now. He got up, clenched his fist, selected the blade function- and drove the hardlight sword deep into the wall. He heard the cell door close- and a voice whisper over his communication gear.  
"Aeona?"  
"Aye, LT. I'm not really back online, at least, not all the way- what you are talking to is just my XA systems, and my personality complex."  
"How… what is this thing?" He switched off the hardlight blade, reached up, tried to pry it off- it was stuck tight, but eventually it came loose. "Hey, put it back on! I was getting some interesting readings from it."  
"Are you sure?" He said, a quizzical expression on his face, looking down at the mask.  
"Yes- now put it back on!"  
"For all I know, you're rampant right now, and putting this on will kill me."

"Well… damn it, I don't have a counter-argument for that. Just… well, while it was on, I was observing some very interesting stuff- the interface device was attempting to connect with the mask, and I saw some unknown functionalities become active…"  
"What sort of functionalities?"  
"Well, we'll never find out now, will we?"  
Clarke sighed. He slid the mask back on- this time, over the rear of his head, securing it over the helmet's neural port, allowing Aeona direct access to the mask.  
"I ask again, what sort of functionalities?"  
"Hmm. Give me a moment."

He waited in the corner, bringing his hardlight shield up. In front of the cell, he could see the blue one shouting at the red one- probably chewing it out for potentially ruining any sort of good will. An image suddenly popped up on the shield, a diagram showing connecting lines between the mask and the translation program. The shouting match finished, with the red one stalking towards the door of the building.  
"Where are you going?"  
"To destroy something, what do you think?"

It was so… human-like, that he didn't react at first. And then he started. _'I can understand them now!'_ He whispered, softly, "Aeona, what happened?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"The mask… I think it's doing something to the translation program."  
"Aye, I'm seeing functionality between both. I've tasked my XA subroutine onto it- in fact, you're distracting me right now- that is a sentence I _never_ thought I would say…"  
"Well, don't let me stop you- just keep that program running!"

Lieutenant Clarke faced the cell door, ready to speak- and the red one was launched back from the building's exit, the energy from one of the spiders' back mounted weapons dissipating. The building's various windows shattered, spiders jumping through. Clarke shied back, checking the AC system's functionality- it was operational- and activating it. The SIV disappeared from view. The spiders crawled into the building- there were at least forty of them, and saturated the warriors' position with their energy weapons. The warriors had no chance- though they managed to take out a few of the spiders as they entered, the sheer amount of firepower directed towards them laid them out on the floor…


	6. Contact and Combat

**CHAPTER SIX  
CONTACT AND COMBAT**

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
6 HOURS 4 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Lieutenant Matt Clarke witnessed the individuals that captured him go down in a blaze of energy projectiles. In any other case, he would have been relieved. Instead, he was more or less distressed- his captors really didn't seem like hostile individuals, unlike those that brought them down. Of course, then again, even if the spiders were the 'good guys' in this little alien campaign that he landed in, he did shoot first, and killed quite a number of them. They wouldn't treat him any better. It didn't matter- he had chosen a side.

A spider crawled in front of the cage door, looking in. The LT froze- his active camouflage generator had been damaged earlier, and he didn't know if it was fully functional, or… the mask! It didn't have SPI panels on it, what if it was visible? The spider suddenly turned around, as a commotion attracted the attention of the thirty-some spiders in the room. He watched as one of the warriors tried to get to its feet, lashing out at a nearby spider- the blade deflected off of the spider's armor, and the spider in question quickly sprayed webbing all over the warrior. He took this time to open up the various compartments in his armor, finding… a block of explosive material. In the same compartment as his protein bars. _'Why would this be ther- oh, right. Staff Sergeant Michaelson. "When in doubt, always pack some explosives!"_' He was in the middle of taking the chunk out of his armor, when he realized he had no detonators, and he was in a small enclosed space. A blast could take him out just as well as the gate. Another idea struck him- if he had a hardlight emitter…

**METRU NUI- GA-METRU DISTRICT  
SCHOOL COMPLEX  
6 HOURS 7 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

Nokama stared forward, her body unresponsive to her mind, the Visorak spinner's paralysis taking its' toll. Behind her, she heard Matau being moved around, webbing being sprayed over him- whether the Rahi wanted to bring him back to the Coliseum for another drop, or to devour him there, she didn't know. What she was aware of, though, was that the Visorak were not attempting to break into the cage- either they knew to keep the being imprisoned, or that it was 'allied' with the spiders in the first place. As she watched, a small white blade extended from thin air, and started cutting through the three locks holding the cell door in place. The blade vanished shortly afterwards…

…and a glowing war-hammer appeared in its' place, smashing the door wide open. The Suukorak standing in front of the door tried to turn around- and its' body was mashed into the ground by the floating hammer, which quickly dissipated. The Visorak retaliated with another barrage of spinners, and everything was silent once more… until an Oohnorak partially screeched, cut off in mid-scream and cut in half by a long and thin bluish-white blade. Once again, the Visorak barraged that area, catching two Suukorak in the process, one of them partially melting, and the other one being both set on fire and turned to dust at the same time. A whooshing sound echoed through the chamber, and a Boggarak a few bio away from her had its' head flattened by the impact of the bluish-white war-hammer. The armored figure appeared for a second, standing right next to one of the Keelerak in the room- it was instantly targeted by the rest of the spiders, their Rhotuka spinners making short work of the Keelerak.

Beside her, Onewa let out a sigh. "Well, there goes that…" And another partial screech interrupts him, from a Roporak that had had a mandible sliced off and then a shining blade shoved through one eye and out the other. The other Keelerak started scuttling for the exit- a blade penetrated through its' head before vanishing, and that odd sound was heard again. A few seconds passed- Onewa noticed one of the tools disappear from the floor- and three consecutive lines of orange light lashed out across the room and burned through another Visorak's eyes. Nokama felt the paralysis start to wear off, and the spiders were otherwise occupied… she took her fin barb and started to cut Matau loose. As to why the paralysis didn't last that long, she did not want to think about what that could have meant.

Chaos reigned in what was once a school laboratory, and the Visorak were beginning to show signs of being intimidated- being hunted by an unseen killer will do that to one's mind. They reacted at even the slightest glimmer of blue light, and keeping their spinners charged was a bad idea, as the few that tried to do so had had their spinners' energies disrupted by projectiles, triggering the effect on themselves.  
And then their prey rose up as one, firing their own spinners into the group of Rahi.

A voice came from thin air next to Whenua. "Hey, watch where you're shooting! You almost hit me!" Whenua muttered an apology, and then did a double take- none of his Toa-brothers were in the area where that voice came from…

Matau was in the thick of it, having been separated from the group after his failed last stand attack. He was doing well enough- the Rahi surrounding him unwilling to use their spinners, rather preferring to overwhelm him with sheer weight of numbers. One of them jumped into the air, coming down towards him- he blocked it with his fang blade, shoving it to the side. Another Visorak jumped towards him, this time unblockable- then a blue sword stabbed upwards, right through its' underside and into its' brain, and used its' own momentum to nearly cut the Visorak in half. The corpse still hit him, though, and knocked him off balance. Something invisible caught his fall, shoving him back up, and a blue-white shield extended outwards from nothing, smashing into an Oohnorak's head and forcing it back half a bio. Three more orange lines popped out of air, and another Visorak slumped to the ground, one of its eyes perforated with holes. Matau felt a push against his side, and something spoke to him. "Get your ass back in position, soldier!"

As if a signal went out, the Visorak broke and started to retreat. Out of the forty spiders that entered the structure, only eight escaped alive. The voice spoke again, somewhere in the room. "Might I suggest we find an alternative hiding place? The spiders will likely come again, in larger numbers. And I don't fancy this being my final stand- and neither do you, I suppose."

The Hordika looked around warily, their Rhotuka launchers kept in a partially ready state. The voice spoke once again. "Would the phrase 'I'm a friend' work well here? If I had anything against you, I could have ended at least one of you during that ambush, or I could have just let the spiders take you. Instead, I distracted them and possibly saved your lives."  
Onewa spoke up. "How do we know that you're trustworthy? You could be a spy for Sidorak or Roodaka."  
"Never heard of either of them. Now, can we please get out of here?"  
"If you were friendly, you wouldn't hide yourself from our sight."  
"Or I could be naturally cautious- would you not be, if you were in a room with unfamiliar individuals? A room that we really should be leaving, right now?"  
"Well, I still do-"  
Nokama interrupted the Toa of Stone. "The stranger does have a point. We really should be elsewhere. It will not be long before the Visorak reinforce their position and come back with greater numbers."  
A glowing blue shield suddenly appeared near the entrance. "There, I'm visible. Now can we please get a move on?"

A few members of the Hordika looked like they wanted to argue the point further, but they were cut off by the former Toa of Fire. Vakama strode up to the door, looked- glared- at the glowing shield, and then left. The rest of the Toa followed afterward, Onewa looking like he wanted to hit something. The shield shut off once the last Toa left, and the sound of footsteps quickly departed from the room.

A Suukorak, badly injured but still alive, slowly raised itself from the floor. With only three legs and one eye, it started the long trek back to the Coliseum.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
6 HOURS 25 MINUTES AFTER TOUCHDOWN**

The team took off fast. Faster than the SPARTAN-IV could move, that was for certain. Lieutenant Clarke quickly found himself in the dust, the warriors moving quickly into the distance. He still tried to keep up, but soon lost visual contact. Clarke kept moving, though, in the direction in which the warriors disappeared. He came across more than a few spider patrols on his way, most of them evaded with clever usage of his active camouflage. There was a single one that he had to fight through, though- the spiders had fortified a building and spun webs all over the street. It would take too long to go around- by that time, the warriors would be long gone, and the chance of finding them again would be remote.

Instead, he reached forward, and touched the web with his combat knife. Almost immediately, there was movement from the structure, and a black spider crawled out. Clarke put his combat knife away, and equipped one of his Z-250s. The spider crawled up to the tripped section of the web, looked at it, and then looked to the left… staring right at the Lieutenant. And then it spoke.

"Matt? Matt, is that you? It's m-"  
The spider was talking in his mother's voice. '_What the hell…_' His finger tensed on the trigger. His mother was still alive and well, back on Earth. This asshole arachnid had no idea what it had just done.  
And with that, he dropped the rifle, activated his newly-programmed hardlight hammer, and swung it hard. The spider made no other sound, except for a cracking noise.

And then four other spiders appeared. They didn't crawl out of any hole, they didn't come out of a building, they just… appeared, their energy emplacements already charging up. The Lieutenant instantly crouched low to the ground, switching from hammer to shield and launching himself to the left with his thruster pack. Two of the energy blasts missed, one hit the shield- one side of the hardlight barrier instantly engulfed in fire- and the fourth one impacts the lower half of his right arm.

Fiery pain- burning hot pins and needles- exploded down his arm. The shielding system does its' part, protecting him from the fire itself. Lieutenant Clarke clenches his teeth, stifling a scream- the pain was unexpected. He activates his thruster pack again, this time shoving himself forward and towards the closest spider, which was preparing to fire a second salvo. He could only assume that the other spiders were planning to do the same. With his right arm on fire- the shield was still holding, but not by much- he was unable to switch from his shield to something else. Instead he slides underneath the spider, still propelled by his thruster pack. The other three energy blasts impacted the red spider, setting it ablaze.

With a temporary barrier between him and the spiders, he deactivated both his hardlight shield and the standard GEN2 shielding system, thus allowing the strange fire to fall clear of the armor. He checked his AC- still active, still online- and slowly slinked out from behind cover. The spiders remained unaware of his location, being fixed on the flaming corpse of their compatriot. And then one of them shrieked, as a blue-white blade sliced into its' thorax.

The GEN2 shielding system quickly reactivated, charging up to maximum within ten seconds. He takes cover behind the wounded spider, pulling his hardlight blade out and cutting deep into the spider's rear legs. The other two red spiders fire their energy weapons, forcing Clarke to roll clear of the targeted spider. He activates his thruster pack once more, and uses the extra time to grab the BR85 from his back and unload into the furthest spider, setting off its' charging energy emplacement. The final spider seemed to set itself aflame, and began charging at him. He fired the last two bursts in the magazine into the spider- with no effect. He switched to the hardlight blade, while activating his jetpack to carry himself above the spider. The mandibles barely missed closing on his feet. At the apex of his lift, he cut the power to the jetpack, landing mildly hard behind the spider. The arachnid tried to turn around, but was moving too fast to do so, and ran straight into the webbing. The spider's fire burned straight through the array of trip-webs, and it carved a fairly good path. The spider came to a stop, started turning around- and a harsh red light lashed out and struck it in the face. Orange dust floated to the ground.

Lieutenant Clarke lowered the Z-250. That was harder than it could have been. At least the spider made a good path through the webs. He snapped his Z-250 onto his back armor, checked his active camo- still online- and started moving again.

It was thirty minutes later, when he ducked into a building to take inventory of his remaining ammunition, that he realized he was well and truly lost. For all he knew, the warriors had made a turn somewhere, and he was going in the wrong direction. He sighed.  
Clarke reopened the application he designated the 'tech-finder', and checked for the closest piece of technology. There were quite a bit of stuff scattered in his area- most of them marked as 'damaged' or 'destroyed'. However, there was one item that caught his attention- the blinking dot marked as 'RIGHT WING ARMORY 3', and next to it was 'RIGHT WING STORAGE 3', about 1500 meters down the road. Other sections of the right wing were scattered throughout the area- most marked as 'destroyed'- and a large portion of the right wing superstructure had landed on the shoreline itself.

His luck could be changing. He stood up, re-equipped his Z-250, and left the structure behind. Little did he know that on the other side of the block, the warriors had stopped to regroup…


	7. Resupplied

**CHAPTER SEVEN  
RESUPPLIED**

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
1 HOUR 2 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

"This is just great," Onewa growled, "Our hideout has been compromised, the Visorak are securing Le-Metru and any potential hope of finding airship parts and assembling them is fading fast. And we also have a mysterious stranger in the city, who most likely is a spy for the Horde-"  
"It's a very real possibility that the unknown being is hostile to the Visorak. He had a point- if he wanted to, he could have simply stayed in his cell until the Visorak moved off, or busted free and escaped, without saving us in the process." Nuju interrupted. "He also helped us out when he emerged from his craft- which he did not need to do, given his ability to camouflage himself. He could have only dealt with the few spiders surrounding his pod, and then escaped- rather than risk himself taking out the Keelerak that had us pinned, along with the other spiders at the crash site."  
"When I want your opinion, scholar, I will ask for it!"  
"I was simply making an observation, carver."  
"Both of you, be quiet! Do you want to attract the Visorak again?" Once again, the former Toa of Water was forced to intercede between members of her team before they could come to blows. It was this Karzahni-accursed Hordika mentality that increased the strife that was slowly tearing the team apart from within.  
She turned around, calming herself, before opening her eyes again- and saw that the Rahaga had arrived. She inwardly cringed- Norik had a disappointed look on his face, which was also shared by the other Rahaga as well. This was not going to be a good meeting.

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
1 HOUR 5 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

Spider patrol frequency was increasing as Lieutenant Matt Clarke approached the dot marked RIGHT WING ARMORY 3. He found himself ducking into more than one building to evade detection. It wasn't solely without benefits, though, as he found multiple interesting items inside- notes, journals. Through scanning, translating- the mask's abilities helped out quite a lot with this, as did the Forerunner translation program- , and finally reading them, he gained knowledge about the local language and the city's inhabitants.  
The island-city was known as Metru Nui. The map he found upstairs in one of the buildings clued him into the shape of the landmass and the various locations on it. The little dot marked 'you are here' helped as well- along with a fair number of other dots as well, marking other inhabitants' –which he learned were known as Matoran- houses. Though given the state of the city, the chances that the inhabitants were still around was a resounding negative- if they were, they would probably be dead by now, or the city would be free of the webs and the arachnids. He wondered what it would have looked like without the damage- probably something like the Forerunner citadels he saw and explored on Requiem.

He gathered up the scraps of metal carvings, put most of them back into the various storage places- but kept a small collection of them for himself. One of the buildings contained a large array of disks, placed on shelves behind glass- scanning and reading the labels identified them as 'Kanoka', and a smaller label below them listed off their… 'Powers?'  
It would seem that the inhabitants had their own form of weaponry, alien by UNSC, Covenant, and perhaps even Forerunner standards. While not as ergonomic as his own weapons, Clarke couldn't resist taking a few of them, if only to study them later- or to use them against the spiders to conserve his own ammunition. He took only what he could carry, storing them in a satchel he found in the same room. He also found a disk launcher- but it proved too cumbersome to carry along, as it interfered with his ability to switch rifles. He scanned it instead, and spent a minute or two fiddling around with the interface device, creating a new weapon application- a hardlight disk launcher.

Leaving that building shortly afterwards, he slowly closed in on the targeted armory. There were a few spiders outside the house-sized fragment, already coating it in webs. He equipped his Z-250, and aimed down the sights at the red spider standing closest to the door- there was no way he was going to be caught off guard by another cloaker.

The spiders were caught off guard by their leader suddenly dissolving into orange flakes and empty armor. One of them instantly broke and ran- it got thirty meters from its original position before receiving the same fate. Three others started charging up their energy emplacements- and three bursts of orange light later, their weapons had discharged into their own bodies, with various effects. A forth spider was able to get a shot off, which went wide and flew off down the street, impacting a building somewhere. The remaining three spiders were soon dealt with, nothing remaining but burning and acid-melted corpses- and pieces of armor lying in the road.

Clarke moved in, keeping his VISR and Promethean Vision mod active and watching his motion tracker. Nothing popped up. The interface device guided him to an entry point, and he climbed in. A door soon barred his way- he deactivated the translation program.  
"Aeona, can you help me open this door?"  
"Wha- uh- yes, of course- that was really enlightening, did you realize that the UNSC translators actually have quite a lot of stuff wrong with them? For instance, they don't properly account for alien accents, and certain idioms are lost as well… comparing the UNSC translation equipment with the Forerunner equivalent is akin to comparing the old 20th century Ford T-Model with a M12 LRV. It's just positively archaic in-"  
"That's very interesting, Aeona. I would like to hear the rest of this- on the other side of that door."  
"Oh, all right. Give me a second."

A diagram appeared on his HUD, showing the interface device trying to communicate with the door, only for an emergency icon to pop up.  
"Sorry, LT. The door has no power left- this entire section is without energy. I could tap into your suit, drain what I require, but it will take 16% of the reactor's stored energy, thus lessening the time that you can spend in the field before the suit becomes dead weight…"  
"Well, it's either that or running around stabbing spiders with a sword and punching them with my fists. I'll take the power drain, thank you. And by the time that my armor's energy level becomes an issue, I'll either be relaxing on a beach somewhere or dead."

The HUD updated again- this time with an indicator next to the shield bar, showing the reactor's energy level. A diagram showed a figure placing its' left hand on the door's activation pad- Clarke followed the directions and did the same. The reactor bar dropped a bit, and then disappeared- a tingle spread through his arm as the power transfer happened. The door came online- once again, the interface device connecting with the system, and the door slowly opened up. He moved inside. The armory was still mostly intact- but was vacant of most of the Forerunner weaponry. All that was inside were ammunition for his weapons, which he quickly took. There were also additional compartments that he could secure to the waistline of his armor to allow for additional ammo storage- he took those too, and spent a few minutes attaching them. He made modifications to his shielding systems with the help of Aeona, allowing the ammo compartments to be shielded as well. With everything done, he left the armory, securing the door behind him, and powering down the section again.

Clarke then started moving for the storage room. Hopefully it would have more stuff in it than the armory did. And if it didn't… well, there was the section of wing that had crashed on the beach. His stomach suddenly growled- he needed nourishment. He opened the door to another building, walked inside- checking his surroundings- and shut the door behind him. The Lieutenant walked to the far side of the structure, and sat down on a chair. Checking around once more, he deactivated his shielding system, and took off his helmet. Setting it down nearby, he opened a compartment on his armor, retrieved one of the protein bars, opened it up, and took a bite. As he chewed, he thought about where the rest of Fireteam Apex could be- the Fortress wasn't damaged, it wouldn't have dropped out prematurely, like his dreadnought did. They were probably at the rendezvous, waiting for him- and he wouldn't show up. After that, it would be a process involving taking the Fortress to Reach and waiting for UNSC forces to show up. And then they'll all be hailed as heroes… or court-marshaled for being AWOL. Maybe even both.

He finished the protein bar, picked up his helmet- and then noticed the crack in the visor. '_Probably from where the brown warrior hit me_.' He put it on, re-engaged his shields and active camouflage, and left the building, taking back half of the power he put into the section. The crack was barely noticeable from inside, but now that he knew where to look… 400 meters to the storage room- and then, depending on the condition of the storage room, he would stop and take a rest there.

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
1 HOUR 34 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

The Rahaga were not bearers of good tidings. In the space of time since the Toa came back from their respective hunts for airship parts, Le-Metru had been well fortified, with the Moto-Hub being turned into a central command area, and nearly every airship factory being occupied as an outlying fortification. All except one. It was obviously a trap, but what else could they do?

The Toa decided to move in small, two-individual groups- first, to gather up all the other supplies they may need and stash them somewhere in Po-Metru, and then to launch a multi-pronged assault on the airship factory in hopes of finding a lightly damaged airship, or reclaiming enough parts to construct at least one of the massive craft.  
Nokama and Vakama were sent to the Great Temple to raid its supply of Kanohi- the very act of thinking about it was revulsive, but it had to be done- and then swing down south to Ta-Metru, to collect Kanoka disks. Whenua and Nuju were to move through the Archives, looking for an underground path that could lead to the general vicinity of the target airship factory- and if possible, make a tunnel that emerged beneath the facility itself. Also on their objective list was the retrieval of a tablet from a distant land containing information on the Visorak scourge. Matau and Onewa were assigned to Po-Metru, to scout out a location that could be used as either another safehouse, or as a place to stash the items they collect.

There was a brief argument- mostly between Matau and Onewa- but Nokama once again intervened, though she was beginning to tire of the constant need for her to arbitrate between the members of her team. The Toa departed, their respective groups moving off into the night.

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
1 HOUR 40 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

_'Well. This is going to suck,'_ Lieutenant Clarke thought, eying the situation in front of him. Multiple webs had been strung around the storage compartment, and they were connected to the surrounding buildings around it- all buzzing with activity. He could sneak in under cloak, but even assuming he could reach the door without tripping a web, he would have to open the interface to connect with the section's operating systems, and if it were to be out of power like the armory… on the other hand, the odd disk projectiles he saw before could come in handy. He rummaged around in the pack, pulling out a blue-colored disk etched with the designator numbers 254. He pulled up the digital copy he made of the guide he found in the disk-room, looked through the codifications- and nodded. This should do.  
Clarke activated the interface's weapon function, selected the disk launcher, loaded it- and triggered it to fire.

The disk flew out, heading straight for the red-colored spider climbing into a building- it struck, and the spider grew to four times its previous size, collapsing the floor beneath it and crushing the spiders inside. Time to relocate- these disks weren't stealthy at all, and his glowing launcher probably didn't help either. He shut off the weapon, jumped off the side of the building, used his jetpack to slow down, and hit the ground running. It wasn't long before the spiders moved into the building he used as a recon point, swarming towards the spot that he had abandoned- and that's when he detonated the small cubes of C12, placed behind pieces of shrapnel at load-bearing positions. The building collapsed in on itself, crushing the multitude of spiders inside it.

Clarke turned a corner, pulled up his launcher again, aimed at a spider halfway across the plaza, and let loose 516. He didn't stop to check the results- though given by the bloodcurdling snarls, and following spider shrieks, it obviously had one hell of an effect. He targeted one of the spider-controlled buildings with 335, and launched it. The modifications the spiders had done to the buildings obviously didn't follow structure safety protocols, and it collapsed forwards, flattening the webs in front of it. Clarke ran up to the building and jetpacked to the top of it, loading 337 into place and hitting another stronghold with it- which just crumpled. He saw something, mostly consisting of eyes and ragged-teethed maws, tearing into the spider buildings at the far corner of the crash site. He locked 352 into his launcher, and let it fly at the monstrosity. It didn't even acknowledge the hit, but its' destructive capability was definitely boosted, as it clawed down a building to get at the spiders inside. He jumped down, slipping 366 into the launcher- just in case.

The Lieutenant ran up to the gaping hole in the side of the storage area, and saw something he didn't expect. Two Mgalekgolo, wrapped up in webbing, surrounded by dead Sangheili in Storm Covenant armor, who were also in cocoons. The door was beyond them, partially wedged open. He grabbed the disk, deactivated the disk launcher, and slowly crept inside. The Mgalekgolo did not react to his presence in the least- though they were still alive, as he saw the worms still wriggling. He made his way to the door, and slipped inside. There were four dead spiders in the storage room, which had been mostly cleared of items. What remained, however, was a cache of UNSC firearms, including a crew-served M41 chain-gun, along with an assortment of Covenant weapons. Most of the Covie guns were out of energy, though- at first, he tossed them down, but after hearing just how much noise that made, he started gently placing them back on the floor.

The UNSC weapons, however, still had full ammunition- and AP ammo to boot. He took as much ammo as possible- none of the shotguns', though, that's what his sword was for. Aeona came back to chatter in his head a bit- something about fully translating the locals' written language, and that the standard UNSC translation program could now shoulder that task, rather than the interface device or the mask. The Lieutenant grabbed the M739 SAW in the cache and put it on his back, and did the same with a M395 Designated Marksman Rifle. He also took two M6H Magnum pistols and attached them to his thigh holsters, along with two T25 energy pistols. Just before leaving, he noticed two bulbous shapes in the darkness… Covenant Ghosts. He grinned.

A crunching noise came from the opposite room, followed by the sounds of fuel rod cannons discharging. He ran over and chanced a look. The monstrosity had moved over to the gaping hole, and was sliding its' claws inside, grabbing the dead Sangheili and dragging them to its mouths. The Mgalekgolo had freed themselves- or perhaps the claws had cut the webbing- and the worm colonies had begun lobbing their green plasma bolts at the creature. Now was best a time as any to make his escape. Clarke looked over the room, saw a console, and moved over to it. It came to life as he approached- this section still had power, but not much of it, if the flickering hardlight was any indication. He tapped the glyph to open the bay doors- or at least, Aeona thought that's what it meant. Her guess was correct, and the doors unfolded. He ran towards the nearest Ghost, hopped in, and took off- the interface device pulling up an arrow guiding him to the right wing section. The monstrosity jerked backwards, half of a Mgalekgolo falling from one of its jaws, and started moving after the hovercraft, faster than anything that size had any right to do.

Back at the storage room crash site, the other Hunter moved outside, looking down at its bond brother. The remaining worms were still alive, but wouldn't be for long- without its interference. The Mgalekgolo stooped down next to the fallen worm colony, allowing the surviving worms to integrate with its own gestalt…


	8. Reclamation (1)

**CHAPTER 8**

**RECLAMATION (1)**

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI – GA METRU DISTRICT**

**1 HOUR 49 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

Lieutenant Clarke dodged debris in the road, power flooding from his shields straight into the Ghost's propulsion mechanisms. He could hear the creature following, sliding against the ground on malformed legs that couldn't support the monster's bulk- and still, it had been keeping pace with the Ghost before he overcharged the hovercraft's boost. Even now, he knew that it was behind him, following him towards the right wing of the dreadnought that had brought him here. A spider patrol emerged out of the fog ahead of him- it was too late to dodge- and he ran into a brown-colored individual, knocking it up and over the hovercraft. He grabbed a disk at random, loaded it into the launcher, and fired it backwards without checking. The creature's roars became louder, this time carrying an underlying screech. He didn't want to look back, but he activated the rear-view camera he had installed on the back of his head… _'Oh bugger.'_

He meant that literally. The creature had lost most of the eyes surrounding its' body- now it had multi-segmented insect eyes on a growth one could, if they looked very closely, assume that it was a head. It still had a bunch of mouths lining its' sides, now with prehensile tongues, which mopped up the spider patrol without slowing down. The problem with its legs was now fixed- it was happily scuttling along at a matching pace with his Ghost's overcharged boost. He took the next turn leading towards the right wing of the dreadnought, the Ghost barely missing the wall of a building- and then it accelerated again. He crouched low, activating his camouflage, as he noticed a purple-colored encampment in front of him- looks like there were more Covies on the dreadnought than he thought.

The Covenant forces obviously saw his damaged hovercraft closing in at fast speed. Three Wraith artillery vehicles spun around to face him, along with several Ghosts- and then a leg stabbed down into the ground. _'Oh shit.' _The communication panel on the Ghost's HUD activated, and an Elite General popped up, snarling a message. The UNSC translation program was sufficient enough to handle it. "Traitors and deserters will burn in holy fire, blessed by the Gods to eradicate your cursed souls."

And then the insectoid monstrosity smashed through the corner, catching the attention of the Covenant base camp. The Wraith self-propelled artillery vehicles fired off a salvo of plasma in his direction, and the Covenant superheavy walker positioned itself in front of the wing. Covenant troops emerged from the ship, getting into their own vehicles or defense emplacements, while the vast majority brought their guns to bear. Blue-green energy started gathering at the front of the walker- and then discharged, cutting through the street ahead. Clarke barely dodged it- but the monster behind him didn't. He checked the rear-view optics again- the insect creature had lost one of its legs, and had a brutal scar across the front, but it was still coming. The Scarab prepared to fire again, the Wraith artillery vehicles launched a second salvo, and dull-red tanks came into view- fuel rod armed Wraiths.

This time the salvo landed directly on the creature, which increased its own speed even as the plasma bit deep into its body. The fuel-rod Wraiths fired off their own shots, tracking towards the Ghost, and the Scarab started its' charge sequence. Lieutenant Clarke rummaged through the pack, and pulled out a single disk. He muttered under his breath, "Please don't screw me..." and brought it down, hard, on the hovercraft.

The Ghost and the SPARTAN disappeared- and re-appeared on the wing structure, behind the Covenant lines. There was a brief moment of no control, and the Ghost slipped a bit- but Clarke wrangled the hovercraft back into his control, and continued on along the damaged superstructure. Behind him, the Scarab fired, cutting deep into the insectoid creature and out the other side. The monstrosity was more or less dead at that point, but it was still moving- it crashed into the Scarab, bowling it over, crushing its power core- and the walker detonated. The heart of the Covie camp was immolated, secondary detonations shredding the Covenant formation and throwing it into chaos.

He arrived at an access hatch, and opened it up- the wing had power, at least. He sized up the entryway- it was big enough- and drove the Ghost down into the hole, hitting it a few times for it to drop perfectly inside. After that, he slid in himself, and closed the door behind him. The interface device guided him in to a small command area- enough of one to interface with the section's systems and check life-signs. The Covies had control of a few decks close to the beach- it was pitifully easy for Aeona to pop up and lock them out of the wing proper.

Pulling up the biometric scanner, he found that it covered more than just the ship- it also had a portion of the outside area as well. The insect creature was dead, and so was half of the Covenant camp. Clarke expanded the scan area just a little bit more… _'Uh oh.'_

What seemed like every single spider in the district was bearing down on the wing. Already they had engaged the Covenant- before, if they were still organized, he would have bet money on their ability to defeat or rout any attack put up against them. Now? Not so much.

"Aeona, does this fragment have any offensive capabilities?"

"Checking… Unless you count Sentinels, then no- it took too much damage in the crash. Wait- it has an integrated Z-8250 anti-fighter-equivalent point defense system, but most of the emplacements have been destroyed, and the few that remain are all light-variants…"

"Good enough. How do I reactivate them?"

"Checking… there are multiple power relay stations throughout the hull. When the ship crashed, most of them were reset. If you can get to these relay stations, I can tap into the ship's systems and bring the point defense system online."

"Mark only the ones that will turn on the emplacements near the beach online."

"Done. Closest one is eighty meters from your current position."

An arrow popped up on his HUD. He took off down the corridor, towards the first power relay node.

**METRU NUI- GA-METRU DISTRICT**

**1 HOUR 53 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

The Ga-Metru group moved quickly towards the Great Temple- there were no Visorak in their way, and the only spiders they saw were heading north at full speed. Nokama wondered if they were walking into a trap, but nothing came of it. They made it over the bridge before they noticed something wrong. A small figure stood in the center of the entrance chamber, staring at them. Vakama snorted, and started to walk around it. It stuck out its' foot- and the former Toa of Fire was punted from the room. It turned towards Nokama, who moved to protect herself, crouching low- and was kicked in the face.

A howl echoed from behind her, and Vakama flew past, leaping straight towards the creature- and was slapped to the side, before being kicked again. The former Toa of Water got back up- and the figure started running towards her. She dodged to the side- and a blow to her back gave her extra lift, sending her into the wall. Vakama ran up again, lashing out with his blazer claw- and the figure stumbled back a few feet, before the Hordika of Fire was forced to be airborne again.

**RIGHT WING STORAGE #3**

**1 HOUR 54 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH **

Off in the city, an armored creature started to move, having integrated not only its bond brother into its colony, but also the other Covenant Ghost hovercraft as well. It began moving south- not east, towards the Covenant camp, but towards something that called out to it.

It came across multiple other armored creatures. They caused the gestalt pain. They were punished- their bodies consumed by worms. With each enemy defeated, the Mgalekgolo grew stronger, larger. Additional armor was grafted on, and the creatures' energy weapons added to its' arsenal.

The Mgalekgolo only continued on. It was hungry. It had to feed.

The call continued.

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI**

**2 HOURS 25 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

Lieutenant Clarke finally arrived at the last power relay. The spiders were about to overwhelm the Covie defenders- if they had been allies, he would have opened the doors and allowed them to retreat inside. He waited until their formation completely collapsed before activating the relay. Aeona immediately appeared on the interface device, and transferred over to the wing structure. A few seconds later, she returned- and the point defense guns started firing.

"Good news- the power system is stable. We won't have power loss to worry about. Also, the spiders won't be able to get in. And finally, the storage compartments have quite a bunch of cool stuff in them."

"Define 'cool stuff'."

"Five Banshees, three AV-14s, and a D79 gunship in the top-most compartment. Quite a few light and medium vehicles in the bottom. And quite a supply of food- the Covies must have raided a mess or something."

"Sensors?"

"Can only cover this district. Sorry."

"Can you detect the warriors?"

"Scanning. Everything looks the same- they're all little dots."

The LT sighed. "At least you tried. Give me coordinates to the mess hall."

"Done."

The SIV walked off towards the food supply, putting his M6H back onto his thigh mag-holster. Time to gather up a food supply, drop a beacon, and take a well-deserved rest.

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT – GREAT TEMPLE**

**2 HOURS 27 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

Sounds drifted over to the temple- energy discharges. Across the water, there appeared to be a light show going on- or perhaps it was simply his concussion. Vakama unsteadily got to his feet, Nokama doing the same next to him. The tiny creature seemed to smile at them, and remained standing in front of the entrance to the Great Temple.

Both Vakama and Nokama were deep within Hordika thrall- all manner of civilized thoughts driven deep beneath the monster within. They charged as one, and while Nokama was punted backwards, the creature couldn't hit both of them at once- and Vakama collided with something big.

There was a faint rippling in the air- something was there, invisible to the eye, and only the outline could be seen- and even that was fading fast. Nokama crouched low to the ground, about to take off in another sprint, her mind wishing she had full control of her water manipulation powers again, so she could just hit the creature from here- and the Rhotuka spinner on her back charged up, firing a bluish-colored energy projectile straight at the target.

A mild downpour started in the entrance chamber. The rain proceeded to create puddles on the floor, but also revealed a shape standing in the center of the chamber… Vakama wasted no time, and jabbed his blazer claw straight up into the bottom of the creature. It squealed in pain, overbalanced, and toppled over. Vakama fell on it, continuing to beat it with his weapon, and clawing at what he suspected was its face.

It went silent. The former Toa of Fire stood up, looked towards the other Hordika, and motioned for her to follow.

With the not-so-tiny beast dealt with, they proceeded into the Temple. There they discovered far more than just the masks they went there to retrieve…


	9. Rescue and Reconciliation (1)

**CHAPTER 9  
RECONCILIATION AND RESCUE (1)**

**ISLAND CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI – FORERUNNER DREADNOUGHT RIGHT WING DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
7 HOURS 55 MINUTES SINCE AMBUSH**

Lieutenant Clarke jerked awake. He reached for his weapons, grabbed his M6H, and rolled out of the small bunk he had set up in a corner of the room. Aeona was watching him from one of the consoles. "I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"  
"Y… yeah. I think so, at least."  
"Well, it's for a good cause. I managed to patch in Sentinel control, and there's good news and bad news."

"Good news first, Aeona."  
"Well, we now have control over all the Sentinels in the city. There's at least three manufacturing facilities out there- there used to be four, but the spiders had taken over that one, and when I tried to remotely activate it…"

"I see. Bad news?"  
"It could be construed as both good and ba-"  
"Aeona…"  
"Those warriors you asked me to search for? I found them."  
"Put their locations up on the map."

Another hologram appears on the console- a top-down image of the city, with a combination of both the legend he found before laid over patches of what appeared to be actual bird's-eye-view images of the city.  
Five dots appear on the map- two are marked LAST KNOWN LOCATION.

Aeona's hologram appeared inside the map, pointing out the dots. "Two of them are next to each other, in the district to the immediate south. Translation of the map you found shows that its designation is Ta-Metru. Another one is to the west- in the Po-Metru district, with a smaller being in tow, though they seem to have made contact with something else. Two others were seen in the tunnel network beneath the city, along with two of the smaller ones. I've seen the white ones come out of the tunnel network to take cover in a building on the edge of the Ta-Metru district, but the black ones are still down below, as far as I can tell. And the green ones are in a whole pile of crap at the moment."

The map swings down into the southern district- a tab to the side shows that it is designated Le-Metru- showing a live street-view of a building. "This is directly from one of our Sentinels. See that building in the distance that is swarming with spiders?"  
"Yes. What about it?"  
"Where do you think the green warriors are?"  
"…You're joking."

Aeona sighed, "Sadly, no."  
Clarke was already moving, grabbing his weapons and attaching them to his back and thigh holsters. He couldn't waste any time- with the sheer number of spiders inbound to that area, it was not looking good for the green warrior and it's little friend.

He sprinted for the aircraft hangar.  
**  
METRU NUI – PO-METRU / GA-METRU BORDER  
8 HOURS AFTER AMBUSH**

Onewa was having a hard time processing what was going on. First he discovered a tablet in Makuta's lair, with details about his team on it- details that brought their entire existence as Toa into question. Next Pouks found the shapeshifting Rahi known as Krahka, who said she would help fight against the Visorak horde- but after the previous encounter the Toa Metru had with the shapeshifter, he trusted her less than the distance he could throw the Great Temple- and his Hordika side was not helping matters, either. Now they were on their way towards Ta-Metru, and from there to Le-Metru, to break through the Visorak lines and capture one of the airship factories there.  
In the distance rose the fire district's sky-scape, scarred by the destruction inflicted by either the massive bio-quake or the occupying Visorak forces. He had asked the Rahi why they had to stop by Ta-Metru, but her only response had been "To pick up a potential ally", and did not say anything else on the matter.

Movement was seen in the distance- Visorak scuttling on webs, moving south. The furthest of them started shooting spinners into the air- could they have seen the Krahka-Kopen they were flying on? That couldn't be- they were shooting in the opposite direction, and were too far away to have noticed the shapeshifter. Eventually, they stopped, and continued on their way, quicker this time.  
**  
ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI – TA-METRU DISTRICT  
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41  
8 HOURS 10 MINUTES AFTER AMBUSH**

Lieutenant Clarke was glad that he received training from Corporal Samuels as to how to fly a Pelican- though he still wished the SIV soldier was here. Hell, at that point, he would take the entire team. He tapped the bird's comm system. "Aeona, I'm seeing quite a bit of movement down there- where are all the spiders going?"

It took a moment for the UNSC AI to respond. "Unknown. They know what Sentinels are, now- they've started launching attacks on the manufacturing facilities. I've lost another one since you've left- it was overwhelmed through press of numbers. I managed to get quite a few of the attackers with the self-destruct, though."  
"Are the warriors in Ta-Metru still at their previous position?"  
"As far as I can see, no. They've started moving towards the Le-Metru district- they probably know what's going on."  
"Great. Keep your Sentinel patrols active. If you can detect them, let me know."

A minute later, he noticed energy discharges far below him. Activating the Pelican's nose-mounted camera, he saw two figures exchanging shots with thirty-five of the biomechanical spiders, which had forced them to take cover in a building. He grimaced, before turning the Pelican around and going in for a strafing run.  
**  
METRU NUI – TA-METRU DISTRICT  
FOUNDRY #38 - CONTROL STRUCTURE  
8 HOURS 14 MINUTES SINCE AMBUSH**

Vakama roared from a window, launching a spinner at the Visorak crowding around the building, setting an Oohnorak aflame, which ran into a Suukorak, spreading the fire to the other unfortunate spider. Three spinners responded to that attack, impacting the framework around the window and melting through it. There was a pounding on one of the large hatches on the ground floor of the building- another living battering ram trying to get in.  
The two Hordika suddenly perked up- a new noise was heard over the sounds of spinners and the incessant pounding on the doors- something from above…

With a low roar, a small airship flew past, orange bolts spewing from the front of the craft and cutting through the ranks of the spiders. Other projectiles detached from the wings, accelerating into large groups of Visorak and detonating, scattering pieces of metal and scorched flesh across the street. The airship gained altitude and quickly traveled out of sight. Though the noise faded, it did not vanish completely- and then it started to gain in intensity again… and the airship made another pass, the orange bolts almost hitting the side of the building, mulching the Visorak attempting to breach the doors. It made a few more passes, until the spiders retreated inside other structures. This time, the airship turned around in mid-air, rose up twenty bios, and moved out of view. A dull thud from above indicated it had landed on the top of the building.

A stream of unintelligible sounds came from the roof. The two Hordika glanced at each other, and began moving down the stairs towards the ground floor. The noise came again, a bit slower, and more pronounced. The Toa paid no attention to it- their focus was on getting out of the structure before the Visorak returned, in greater numbers.  
Twenty-some seconds later, the sound was repeated, though this time...

"...mand. Get to the roof now! I don't know how long we have before the spiders return!"

As if the statement from above was tempting fate, two of the thick hatches on the northern wall suddenly collapsed inwards, and the Visorak began flooding inside. Vakama was barely able to stop himself in time as a Boggarak Rhotuka flew through the space where his head would have been two seconds later. Flashes of light outside the window indicated that the spiders were firing off spinners to apparently prevent the unknown airship from taking off. The pair of Toa retreated to the second floor.

The voice came again. "This position is becoming untenable! Get to the roof, now! It's only a matter of time before the spiders overrun us!"  
The former Toa of Fire set his feet- his mind sliding back into full Hordika, the doubts about the mysterious airship being friendly manifesting in full. If he was going to die, he would do so fighting to the very end, and not be simply struck down with impunity from rang-  
A lance of pain arced through his body. The former Toa of Water behind him had hit him- hard- in his side. The primordial section of his mentality demanded a full retribution, but the civilized portion clamped down hard, suppressing the Hordika nature again. Nokama was shouting at him, the Visorak were advancing towards them- and a section of the roof caved inwards with a thunderous detonation, crushing the spiders beneath it. Once again, the voice rang out. "FIFTEEN SECONDS, THEN I'M OUT OF HERE! GET TO THE ROOF, NOW!"

Shadows appeared on the walls- the Visorak were starting to scale the building. Once they got to the roof, it would be all over- all escape routes would be cut off. The two Hordika looked at each other, and came to a decision.  
As one, they began running up the stairs leading to the roof. The door at the top may or may not have been locked, it made no difference- it was simply blasted off its hinges by Vakama's Rhotuka. The Toa ran out onto the roof, saw the airship- facing away from them, the access hatch open, but rising away- there was no time to ponder their decision, it was do or die...  
**  
ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - TA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNKNOWN FACILITY  
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41  
8 HOURS 17 MINUTES 55 SECONDS SINCE AMBUSH**

Lieutenant Clarke's heart was pounding. He had barely taken off in time- the spiders had crested the top of the building, and were about to saturate the Pelican in energy blasts, more than it's shields could withstand. He had to lift off. He gave the warriors enough time, but in the end, he had to make a judgement call.

He sighed. '_They sure cut it close._' Flying high enough above the city that the spider's spinners couldn't reach, he switched on the autopilot- setting it to move slowly, almost hover in place- and sat up from his seat, ran to the bulkhead connecting the cockpit to the troop bay, slid open the door, and sprinted out, past the Warthog in the troop compartment, to the rear hatch. He got there just in time- the blue warrior was about to lose _'Her?_' grip on either the red warrior's arm, or her weapon that had been jammed in between the two closest seats in the troop bay. The SIV slid to a stop next to the blue warrior, laid prone on the ramp, and stretched his arm out, locking himself into place via magnetic clamps. "Grab on!"

The red warrior's eyes widened, then narrowed. He continued to hold onto the blue warrior's single hand, though both of them knew she couldn't hold him up forever. And descending was just not an option- it would open them all up to enemy ground fire. "Two choices: Either you don't trust me, and you fall, possibly taking your teammate with you- or you grab my damn arm and we both pull you on board!" The other warrior glanced at him, apparently surprised- then said something to the red warrior- something that came out as gibberish. Great. Either he had got out of range of Wingbase's transmission area- unlikely- or Aeona was busy. Or the Pelican had taken a hit to it's communication array, and Aeona just couldn't contact him. He could turn on his own long-range communication systems, but that would involve sitting up, pulling up the interface device's screen, and tapping through the various menus to pull it open, and that just wouldn't work.

He slid a bit further out- more than he was expecting, but enough remained on the Pelican to give him a good base of support. Now that he was closer, he could see that the red warrior's weapon was fused directly into his arm, which probably was one of the reasons as to why the warrior wasn't putting his right arm forward. He reached out anyway, his fingers sliding over the weapon, starting to grip the warrior's arm- he moved away, a growl forming on his 'lips'...  
"Listen up, chucklehead, I nearly got myself shot down rescuing your sorry ass! I'm not about to let you fall to your death after that! Now stop snarling at me, and just GIVE ME YOUR FRIGGIN' ARM!" With that, Clarke lunged forward, grabbing onto the red warrior's right arm, and pulled hard. There was a short howl of pain beneath him, and the red warrior lifted up a few inches. The Lieutenant released his left hand, reaching down and grasping the warrior's arm with both of his hands, trusting the scientists all the way back on Luna that they did the best work possible in regards to his suit's mag-clamps.  
They apparently had contracted the work out to the highest bidder, because they held firm. The red warrior was slowly pulled up, inch by inch, before he was able to support his own weight- and the ramp started to rise, giving him an easier incline to slip inside the Pelican itself.

Clarke didn't know why he had stuck his neck out for them. Maybe it was his optimistic side, like his drive to bring everybody home safe during operations. Maybe it was his pragmatic side, assisting someone so that they could help him in return later. Maybe it was just the fact that he had chosen a side in this battle, or alien weapons test, or whatever this was, and decided to stick with it. In the end, it didn't matter. He sat up, and rose to his full height. Looking at the two warriors, he addressed them. "Next time, don't wait around and waste time, hmm?"

The two warriors looked at him oddly- that snarl was still on the red warrior's face. He backed away, not turning around, until he was back inside the cockpit. He closed and sealed the hatch before easing himself back into the seat. Eight kilometers to the southwest, the white warrior was barricaded in another structure, and from what he saw, the spiders were bearing down on that position, too.  
Two warriors almost fell- would have fallen, had he not intervened- to the spiders. A single warrior, with a smaller being in tow- possibly a 'VIP'- would not last long either.  
"This time, I'm just going to announce myself, blast a hole in the roof, and fly on in. None of this waiting around for evac- evac's coming straight to them."

**METRU NUI- TA-METRU DISTRICT  
TA-METRU CHUTE STATION #55  
8 HOURS 20 MINUTES SINCE AMBUSH**

Nuju and Kualus were trapped in the station, and they knew it. Already, they heard the sounds of Visorak trying to force their way in- and then a stream of guttural words in a foreign language drowned out the noises the stealers of life were making. The station shook as something slammed into it with a loud boom- or rather, a lot of somethings. A crack appeared on the roof. Both the Toa of Ice and the Rahaga looked up towards the crack- and then towards the single large transport chute that they had been unable to fully secure. Frozen Visorak were littering the approach, while gleaming eyes in the darkness showed the location of other spiders that were hanging just out of effective range. It was like they were waiting for something- most likely, the rest of the horde on the outside to find their way in.

Instead, something else found them- the chute suddenly gave way, falling outwards, as the strut holding it up collapsed. The spiders fell down as well, a few of them trying to hold onto the edges of the new hole in the side of the structure. An oddly-shaped airship flew in through the hole, it's wings scraping against the sides. It came to a hovering stop in front of them, and through the viewport, Nuju saw the foreign being from before. It's arm-mounted glowing shield had been extended, a message clearly visible on it, in Matoran writing.

GET THE  
KARZAHNI  
ON THE BIRD  
RIGHT NOW

A flurry of red and blue spinners came from the back of the airship, keeping the Visorak that were trying to move through the hole suppressed. Through the hole, Nuju could see the webs moving, twitching... oh. That was a lot of Visorak.

The Toa could barely remember moving from the front of the airship to the back. It was all a blur. Kualus was a bit more wary, but seeing as how the alternative was to be buried under a living tide of Visorak, both of them quickly jumped on. The airship swung around, the door closing fast- and then rapid acceleration forced them all against the door itself, with the vehicle in the center of the cargo bay sliding to the right side. The airship shuddered a bit, as it was pelted by spinners, but it quickly stabilized.

About thirty seconds later, the hatch on the other side of the compartment opened up, revealing a translucent barrier- and the mysterious individual behind it. Vakama stood up, and placed himself firmly between the being and the rest of them. "Who are you," he growled, deeply.

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - BETWEEN TA-METRU AND LE-METRU DISTRICT  
175 KILOMETERS FROM SEA LEVEL - HOVERING IN PLACE  
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41  
8 HOURS 22 MINUTES SINCE AMBUSH**

The red warrior growled at Clarke- whether it was a word, a sentence, or just growling for the sake of being an ass, he didn't know. For the tenth time that day, he wished that the Pelican had not been damaged, and that Aeona could help him with the translation process. Instead, this was going to be quite a headache, communicating by text- and all the while, the green warriors were in quite a lot of deep shit. The shield dropped for all of two seconds, as the Lieutenant tossed a datapad into the troop bay. Predictably, the red warrior bent down and tried to charge at the SIV- who quickly snapped the shield back into place, which took the impact and redirected most of the momentum back outwards. The red warrior ended up on his rear end, coming to a stop against the front of the Warthog.

Clarke tapped out a message on the interface device, which appeared on both the shield, the troop bay's monitor, and the datapad, having been translated into the native language. "Okay, Red's pissed. That much I understand. Anybody else want to have an actual civilized conversation, albeit text-based?"

**GA-METRU DISTRICT**

The Gestalt was hungry. It had to feed.

It had almost doubled in size- the majority came from armor pieces cannibalized from the four-legged armored creatures that inhabited the land, and had made the fatal mistake of attacking the Gestalt. The rest came from new Lekgolo produced by the Mgalekgolo Gestalt's former bond brother, the worms that made up that colony having had their reproductive speed enhanced by the monster's venom.

Roaming towards the call, it had found an odd metal sphere along the way, having been wedged between two buildings, almost as if it had fallen off some flying craft. With single-minded ferocity birthed from hunger, it had fallen on the object. The walls of the sphere held out for a while, but when five of the worms had found a microscopic crevice, the rest had piled on the area in question. With so many worms concentrated in one place, a pressure switch was triggered, and the sphere opened up.

The occupant's- a Po-Matoran named Tuvan- last memory before he fell asleep was being placed into the sphere by two Vahki, and the hatch sealed closed. He did not know of the power outage that struck the city, for he was placed into a timeless sleep by the technology of the Sphere. Neither did he know of the Great Cataclysm, or the arrival of the poisonous scourge that was the Visorak Horde. And neither was he conscious of the Gestalt attacking his prison, finding a way inside- and mercifully, was not aware when they started to feed.

The Gestalt was hungry. It had to feed. It moved on.  
The call continued.

**AN:** A reply to [guest user designate] fanficbrowser:

The creature that was pursuing Lieutenant Clarke was a mutated Visorak, having been hit by a [power level six] disk with the 'Reconstitute at Random' ability. The creature was then beefed up by a [power level 2] Enlarge disk, as it rampaged through it's former brethren positioned around the storage area.

Later on, it got hit by yet another Reconstitute at Random disk (which was, by the way, power level seven), which beefed up it's capabilities yet again.


	10. Reconciliation and Rescue (2)

**CHAPTER 10  
RECONCILIATION AND RESCUE (2)**

ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - BETWEEN TA-METRU AND LE-METRU DISTRICT  
175 KILOMETERS FROM SEA LEVEL - HOVERING IN PLACE  
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41  
8 HOURS 23 MINUTES 49 SECONDS SINCE AMBUSH

Red continued to pace between the shield and the rest of the warriors. Blue had been apparently selected as the warrior's spokes-person- though it made sense, as she was the first one to attempt actual communication with him- and Brown's knockout blow back in the area called Le-Metru didn't count.  
Lieutenant Clarke shook his head. '_There I go again- assigning them genders, treating them like a Fireteam... but so what if they were biomechanical constructs? They sure as hell acted like a team, right down to the off-duty RNR._'

Blue had figured out how to work the datapad- almost as if she had used something like it before. A message popped up on the interface device."Who are you? What do you want?"

Clarke typed out a return message. "LT Matt Clarke, New Colonial Alliance. As for what I want, I just want to know what is going on here. Is this some sort of weapons test?" There- if this really was some sort of alien military program, if the project's overseers captured him, at least they would be directed against the wrong group.

Blue blinked, then replied. "Weapons test? No. This i-"

The Warthog behind them was shoved violently to the side, Red having hit it with his fist. The impact left a fairly big dent in the right fender. "Oy, leave the 'Hog alone," Clarke shouted, before typing another message. "Tell Red not to break UNCA property!"

Blue looked over at Red and spoke in a soothing voice. Red snarled back, but moved away from the 'Hog- or as far away as he could. "Sorry. Vakama is more than a bit irritable right now- we're all somewhat cramped back here."

'_So Red's 'name' is 'Vakama'. Bit of an odd name, but this is an alien culture after all.._' Clarke sent another message back. "Since I told you my name, you might as well do the same."

"Oh. My name is Nokama. I am- was- am a Toa of Water."

"And White?"

'Nokama' looked puzzled for a second, before replying. "That would be Nuju, Toa of Ice."

"Red is Vakama, White is Nuju, and your name is Nokama. What about Brown, Green, and Black?"

"Onewa, Matau, and Whenua. Toa of Stone, Air, and Earth, respectively."

Lieutenant Clarke visibly flinched at the mention of the word Earth. "Question: What do you know of Earth?"

It took a while for the warrior to respond. "Earth is one of the elements a Toa can channel. As I mentioned before, I am a Toa of Water, which gave me control over liquids. Vakama could do the same with fire, and Nuju with ice."

"So... like dirt and stone?"

"Yes to the former, though stone was more under Onewa's control, rather than Whenua's."

Clarke sighed in relief. They didn't know of Earth. Why would they? The UNSC's only experience with biomechanical beings was with Huragok... '_Could it be that this was a long-abandoned Forerunner experiment- the creation of 'new' life-forms that had developed their own society over time?_'

"Is this your city?"

The warrior wasted no time in replying. "Yes. It is called Metru Nui. It was once a beautiful place..."

"Let me guess, until the spiders attacked?"

Nokama seemed to take her time. "Partially correct, though there were some other unfortunate events that led to our city's fall."

"Politics?"

"You could say that that was one of the reasons."

"Hm. No matter where civilization pops up, politics are always both a blessing and a curse. Anyway, so why are you still in the city if it has fallen? One final stand against the creepy-crawlies?"

"Not exactly. We're here for..." Nokama looked over at Vakama, speaking to him in low, undecipherable tones. Vakama replied in the same tone of voice, at first harsh, but then softening. "We're here to rescue the Matoran- the inhabitants of this city."

"Clarification: Matoran are civilians, while Toa are soldiers?"

Nokama looked up, a faint bit of irritation across her face. "We would rather be called protectors, instead of soldiers."

"Apologies. I'm military, so... anyway, the spiders, what are their motives? Or are they just random animals?"

"The Visorak- in our language, it means 'stealers of life'- are a scourge. They care not for the sanctity of the lives they ruin, and mostly follow the will of the Horde leaders, Sidorak and Roodaka."

"There's those names again. Mind handing over some more intel on them?"

"Sidorak is the King of the Visorak, while Roodaka is their Viceroy. Both are just as bad as the monsters they command."

"Noted. Anything you could mention about the spiders themselves? Any tactical information?"

"Not much. Whenua could tell you more than I could about them."

"Oh well. Thanks anyway." Clarke's eyes suddenly went wide, as he remembered what he had originally set out to do. And by now, the 'Visorak' would have either broken into the building, or fortified the area outside it to the point where the methods for extraction employed previously wouldn't work- and with only the forward-facing weapons available to be used, that would put him in a tight spot if he even attempted the evac run.  
Giving up was not an option- here was proof that this was an independent alien race, and as the impromptu ambassador for the UNSC, he wasn't going to mess up a chance for allies in the post-war period.  
_'Nothing ventured, nothing gained.'_

He deactivated the shield. Red- Vakama- took a few steps forward, but Nokama shot him a look that was easily on the level of the SIV's grandma's patent-pending 'Don't you even try it, buddy' glare. Vakama backed down after that.  
Clarke walked up to Nokama, still staying generally out of arm's reach. He extended his right arm, preparing to shake hands- a customary human greeting, and to cement friendship. He wasn't expecting for the blue warrior to sucker punch his half-open hand- and holy hell that was a lot of force behind it.

The SIV let out a half-not-so-manly-yelp as he pulled his arm back- surprise making it hurt a lot more than it ought to. He opened the interface device to type a message back- better to nix a potential misunderstanding in the bud before it wrecked their inter-unit cohesion. Vakama saw the glow of the interface device get brighter, and knew what it was capable of. He charged- ducked underneath the SIV's left arm to avoid the interface device, and clothes-lined the UNSC soldier. Both warriors went down in a tangle of limbs, and the punches started to fly. The message was successfully sent off, though- and Nokama quickly intervened, catching the Toa of Fire in a hold and spinning him off, with his only available options to either disengage the fight or lash out at Nokama. It was only by sheer will that Vakama didn't go with the second option.  
Nokama shoved the datapad at Vakama's face.  
"Lemme guess, that is how-"

Clarke shakily got back up to his feet. "Hot damn, that frigging hurt!" Vakama looked ready to go again, but then shook his head, and stared at the UNSC Lieutenant. He stretched out his arm, in a closed fist. Clarke approached cautiously, shook his injured hand to get a feeling other than pain in it, and then reached out himself.

Fourteen hours and eleven minutes after touchdown, Toa Vakama and SPARTAN-IV Lieutenant Matt Clarke bumped fists- and then shook hands.

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
AIRSHIP 'PELICAN GOLF-41'  
FIVE MINUTES SINCE ALLIANCE**

The 'Pelican', now fully crewed, bore down on Le-Metru. Beneath them, they saw the living tide of Visorak swarming towards the building that apparently held Matau and Iruini within. A large tower rose up no less than three blocks away, covered in Visorak webbing and cocoons. And in one of the cocoons...

"That's Whenua!"

"Where?"

"On the Visorak spire! They have him trapped! Bomonga's right next to him!"

Kualus, having been tasked with communications, as the rest of the Toa were busy manning the various devices mounted on the airship, typed out an alert on the so-called 'datapad' that the warrior- SIV Lieutenant Clarke, as he called himself- in front of him had handed over.  
"Toa Whenua and Rahaga Bomonga in captivity on outside of enemy structure ahead, to direction you call 'eleven o'clock'."  
A return message was not long in coming, though the 'Lieutenant's' tertiary mode of communication was full of errors, almost as if he were using a poorly made Rau.. which he probably was, given how he was wearing one backwards. When the Rahaga had attempted to correct Clarke's obviously mistaken way of wearing the Kanohi, he was just gently pushed away, at first by the soldier himself, and then by Nokama, who had mentioned that he had talked in their language before, even while having the Rau stuck to the back of his head.

"Surely I see how? We go about to rescue them I do not much like the idea of staying near the tower we will burn up like a tree if we do."

Kualus' reply was interrupted by the sound of the large cannon on top of the airship discharging, placing a shot directly in a clump of Visorak charging towards the structure containing the Toa of Air. The projectile impacted the Keelerak in the center of the formation, and sent the rest of the spiders flying, in various stages of dismemberment. A snarl of triumph came from behind him- it's origin point being the Toa of Fire sitting in the co-pilot's chair.

The rest of the spiders turned, almost as one, towards the direction where the shot had come from- and ten seconds later, Rhotuka spinners were flying in their general direction. The airship immediately began evasive maneuvers, lashing out with it's own weapons. Another message was sent from the pilot- once again, in broken Matoran.  
"How? Might these webs I have a plan but it goes to require some skills running so near and so coordinated you maybe not like it."

"Coordination is impossible with the way you're using that Kanohi. Here's a sample of what you just said." Kualus replayed the previous message.

"Oh dung is horrible."

The airship immediately righted itself with the tower, and proceeded straight towards Whenua. The Visorak beneath started leading their target, as they had done to bring down birds in the past- Kualus just had not been inside one before. Beams of light and darts of orange spewed out from the front of the craft, slicing through the spiders beneath- but it still wasn't enough, as each Visorak struck down was replaced just as quickly.

"Tell Nuju to shoot webs on the right side of Whenua- it will make the web all fall sideways!"

Well. At least that was somewhat decipherable. Kualus left the 'cockpit', and ran towards the right side of the craft, opening up the small hatch leading to where Nuju was sitting. The Toa of Ice turned to face the Rahaga, a suppressed snarl on his face- most likely due to being compressed into such a small space.

The Rahaga showed him the datapad, and the Toa of Ice nodded acknowledgement. Using the side-mounted weapons was simple enough- just point it at whatever the target was, and hold down the protuberance on the underside of the device. The shots flew through the air, cutting into and through the targeted webbing, and causing the Toa and Rahaga to fall to the left. The Pelican immediately swung to the side, and two thumps- in succession- sounded on the top of the craft. The cannon fired again, and the web- now missing the section that previously held Whenua and Bomonga- fell towards the ground.

There was a loud pop from the 'cockpit', and the airship began to lose altitude. The pilot was undoubtedly keeping it in a controlled descent, given by the way the ruined skyline of the city remained mostly level. Kualus ran back to the pilot cabin- and found that half of the protective covering was gone, lifted up and off of the airship. Whenua, wrapped in a cocoon, dropped into the command area.  
Bomonga was next, rolling off of the trapped Toa of Earth- and Vakama jumped in after everybody else. The pilot was shouting at the Toa of Fire, his tone of voice conveying intense frustration.

"I went the land that you did not have to knock out the tent!"

Under any other circumstances, this would have been quite humorous. Especially the Toa of Fire's initial confused reaction. "I cannot understand you! Speak properly!"

"NON-TRANSLATABLE TERM!" The 'Spartan' tilted his head backwards, and flipped a switch on the control panel. "When I run next the structure at once it Nokama Nuju deploy the roof insertion structure call Matau and Iruini in it and we get you after!"

In the right turret, Nokama glanced towards the screen above, which was split between showing the pilot cabin from the left, and Nuju sitting in the left turret. "What did he say?" Nuju shrugged in response, while the pilot lunged to the side, picked up a datapad, and shouted a stream of foreign words at it. The structure with Matau and Iruini inside came into view beneath them, and the airship slowed down, as if to land. On the screen above, a message flashed into existence:  
"Disembark on my mark deploy onto the roof get inside the building find Matau and Iruini I'll circle around and come back for you!"

The airship fired off it's complement of anti-personnel missiles at the roof before swinging around, now facing the opposite direction, and coming to a halt less than twenty meters from an access hatch. The transparent bubbles surrounding the turrets snapped open- and the shield dropped.

"GO GO GO!"

Three things happened at that moment. Nokama and Nuju dropped from the turrets onto the roof. The airship started to move straight up, turning to the right as it did so, firing whatever remaining weaponry it had.  
And a Visorak Rhotuka struck the left wing- and ignited. The Pelican dropped a few bio, towards the two Toa on the roof, before regaining control and flying away, the flaming side tilted up ever so slightly. It had just started to climb to the right when the left engine exploded, and the airship plummeted from the sky, falling out of view down the street.

**PO-METRU DISTRICT**

The Gestalt was hungry. It had to feed.

The being it had consumed was quite extraordinary in it's taste. It had a certain sweetness to it- the Gestalt was almost saddened when it had devoured the last scraps of the individual, as there was no certainty that it would ever find another.

It had stumbled upon what very recently apparently was a battlefield, and was busy devouring the fallen spiders that lay within it, when a bolt of energy had hit it in one of the gaps of its armor and wiped out a fraction of it's colony. Turning it's attention to the direction where the blast had come from, it saw three other robotic beings, one of which had it's weapon raised. The Gestalt contracted inwards, lifting the half-eaten body of the spider upwards to take any additional attacks. The creature soon fell apart under the flurry of bolts from the robots, but it had bought the Gestalt time to bring it's own weaponry to bear.

Five spider blasts discharged towards one of the robots, setting it on fire and trapping it in an energy web, while the other one was sliced apart by four fuel rod beams- the pieces collapsing towards the ground.  
The third synthetic let loose another attack, which slagged one of the spider weapons, and caused intense pain for that section of it's colony. The Gestalt returned the favor by obliterating the robot's head with it's remaining weapons.

The robot that it had cut apart was starting to rebuild itself. The Gestalt slowly moved over to it, flattening it's head with a single stomp, before allowing another fraction of it's colony to detach, flow down it's sides- and feed. It glanced to the other synthetic, which was about to free itself from the energy web, the fire not affecting it as much as expected. The Gestalt approached it as well, opening it's arms wide- and bringing them down around the robot. It started to feed.

Less than a minute later, the third robot joined the fate of it's fellows. The Gestalt added whatever weaponry it could salvage from the battlefield to it's formidable arsenal- and consumed the rest. The ground was cleaned of all flesh and metal- the only indication there had been any sort of conflict in the area being the holes scattered around the barren field.

The Gestalt was still hungry. It had to feed.  
The source of the call was close. It moved on.  
The call continued.

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
D79 PELICAN GUNSHIP GOLF-41  
ELEVEN MINUTES SINCE ALLIANCE**

The Pelican had come to a stop more than four blocks away. The left wing was almost completely gone, and only a small stub remained. The left side of the gunship had been scorched quite well- and the right wing had been torn off during the crash. Vakama unsteadily got to his feet, looking around. Whenua and Bomonga were okay, the cocoons protecting them from the worst of the impact. Kualus was limping- that can't be good- and the pilot...

Lieutenant Clarke was bent over the controls. Shards of glass lay near his feet. Vakama quickly approached the SIV, grasped his shoulder, and pulled him backwards. There was a sharp intake of breath, which was followed by a muffled cry of pain.

For the first time, Vakama saw the Lieutenant's actual face, formerly hidden beneath it's own mask, which was now broken- shattered into so many pieces. The flesh underneath, however, was not nearly as bad as the mask's condition- a few scratches was the extent of the damage. He laid the Lieutenant back onto the pilot's chair, before working to set Whenua and Bomonga free. No sooner than the Toa of Earth and the ebony Rahaga sat up that a guttural roar swept through the street. Everybody in the Pelican looked up, Clarke being jolted back to full alert status by the fearsome noise.

"What in the name of Karzahni was that?" Whenua said, as he fully stood up. Vakama replied, "I don't know, but it sounded angry."

"And hungry."

Bomonga looked up, a grim expression on his face. "It is the Zivon, the Visorak's greatest weapon. It knows only one thing- hunger. We've seen it summoned before- there's no stopping it. All we can do is hope that Nokama and Nuju are able to save Matau and Iruini before the creature brings down the building and devours them."

Vakama let out a snarl, before turning to "We're not just going to leave them out there!"

"What else can we do? Go out and fight? We will not win, I can tell you that."

"It's better than simply running away and leaving them to die!"

Lieutenant Clarke unsteadily got to his feet, and started to walk to the hatch leading out of the cockpit, grabbing his rifle from a rack before he left. Almost unconsciously, Vakama moved aside to let him pass, following the foreign warrior with his eyes until he left the pilot cabin, before looking back towards the group.

"I'm going to save them. If you want to stay here, go ahead- but Toa don't leave each other behind."

A deep metallic clunk came from the rear cabin. Both Toa and the Rahaga peeked around the corner to investigate what it was, and found the warrior reaching into the vehicle that was in the deployment bay, turning something- and a metallic growl echoed through the space. Both of the Hordika answered it with their own, which caused the Spartan to look towards them. He withdrew his hands, and spoke. Once again, all that came out was unintelligible sounds- but the datapad stuck to the warrior's chestplate soon flashed with symbols, first in what was obviously the soldier's own language, which then shifted into Matoran writing.

"Your friends are in trouble. The UNSC, whenever possible, does not leave people behind. I have two open seats in this Hog- and I need a gunner. Anybody volunteer?"

Almost immediately, Vakama had leaped forward, climbing onto the back of the vehicle. Whenua's approach was calmer, but not by much- he jogged to the passenger side of the vehicle and climbed in. The warrior walked towards the two Rahaga, and bent down, so as to 'talk' to them face-to-face.

"Before you two leave the battlefield, here are command access codes for the Pelican. Set it's engine core to overload- it's sure not flying anywhere anymore, and I don't want the spiders to take any of it's technology. Head for Ga-Metru. Carry this with you." Clarke reached to the side and picked up another datapad.  
"Here's my own access code, and my verification code to signify that I didn't give it up under distress. Get to the location I've marked on the map, and broadcast the codes. You'll be safe there."

The SIV turned around to leave, pulling the emergency lever, and the hatch started to lower. Before he climbed into the Warthog, he grabbed several tubular objects from the racks above the seats, and handed one to Whenua, who took it. The Toa of Earth lifted it- it was weighty enough- and glanced over to the Spartan, whose eyes suddenly widened.

Far up the street, the Zivon was tearing at a building, bringing it down- and devouring the spiders that were too slow to move away. If anything, it's hunger was slowing it down- it was stopping to destroy every structure along it's path. The Hog let out a roar- answered by those of Vakama, Whenua, and Clarke- and took off up the street, heading straight for the creature.

The Visorak in the way were caught off guard by the speed of the attack- the twin-linked gatling cannons mounted on the sides of the vehicle probably didn't help either. .50 BMG poured out from the weapons, carving a bloody path forward- and with the flick of a switch, what could only be described as a hard-light cowcatcher flared into existence on the front of the vehicle. The Visorak dead ahead had very little time to react- the Keelerak first up only was able to get off half of a screech before it was cloven in half, the monomolecular edge humming straight through it and out the other side.

The datapad on Clarke's chest suddenly lit up with an incoming message, which routed itself into TEAMCOM as an audio file. "Soldier. If the airship is to be destroyed, perhaps it could serve one final purpose. See if you can lure the Zivon this way, if at all possible."

A grin crept over Clarke's face. "And then we light it up right under the bastard."

Two fire spinners were sent downrange towards the Zivon, which did nothing more than cause a small puff of smoke and flame. The Zivon barely took notice. Whenua half-stood up, bringing the tube to bear- and pressed the small tab that he guessed was the fire button. A soft tone sounded from the weapon. '_Perhaps it's defective?_' He brought it inwards- and let go of the trigger. The 102mm rocket leapt from it's tube, barely missing the roll-cage of the Warthog, before re-acquiring it's target and flying off toward the monstrous scorpion. The soldier beside him started shouting wildly, and from what he could see of the words that were scrolling down the datapad... well, most of them were marked as NON-TRANSLATABLE. Whenua looked at him. "Sorry."

The soldier glared at him, before shouting something else, and looking back at the road. His eyes went wide- a Keelerak was airborne, descending towards the vehicle, spinning around as it did so- and a spinner sent it flying over the Warthog. Clarke spoke a few more words, grabbed the datapad, tore it off of his armor, and stuck it to the dashboard. "Thanks for that. Now keep shooting!"

The Zivon was coming up fast. The first rocket didn't have much of an effect, it seemed. The second one jumped out of the launcher, and took off, leaving a trail of smoke behind it. Clarke watched it in his peripherals- it ascended, closed in with the Zivon's face- and was blocked by a massive claw. The Zivon glanced down- and saw the vehicle, fast approaching. It turned to face the 'Hog, letting out a guttural roar. A streak of blue flashed up to meet it- Vakama had finally worked out how to use the rear-mounted Gauss cannon, it would seem. The Mach 40 projectile impacted what could be considered the monster's jawline, and the Zivon screeched in fury.

"I think you just pissed it off... fire again!"

The creature bent down, one massive claw sliding forwards. Clarke hit the emergency brake, and slid towards the opposite side- the claw barely missed them. And then they were beneath the creature itself.

"**FIRE EVERYTHING!**"

The two Toa didn't have to know English to understand the meaning behind those words. Whenua leveled the M41 at one of the monster's joints, pressed the button- and nothing happened. This time, he released the firing button before fiddling around with the weapon- still nothing. He was about to toss it into the space beneath the dashboard when he noticed the brown boxes lying there. He put the rocket launcher down, picked one up, and realized what they were. Ammunition.

Vakama, on the other hand, was having an easier time. The Gauss cannon was auto-loading, and was easy to aim. The Zivon suddenly stumbled as one of it's massive leg joints were hit- and the enraged roar from above was that of something that was well and truly pissed off. Clarke stopped going in circles, realigned with the Pelican, and took off down the street. The Zivon wasn't far behind.

Whenua turned to the Spartan. "What are you doing? I thought you said we're going to rescue them!" Clarke did not respond, only grabbed the datapad and spoke words into it, before tossing it at the Toa, who caught the device. "I'm going to blow the bird up, with big, tall, and ugly right above it. Tell your buddies to get the hell out of it as fast as possible!" The Toa of Earth wasted no time, and was typing as fast as possible.

Up ahead, they saw the Pelican light up, and two figures slide to the ground before running off towards a nearby building. The Zivon's bulk belied it's speed- it was catching up. Vakama was making use of both the Gauss cannon and his own spinner launcher- not like the Zivon needed any more encouragement to follow them. The Warthog ramped off the Pelican's detached right wing, coming back down almost flawlessly a few meters ahead of the downed aircraft, before wrenching left and heading down a side street. The Zivon had to slow down to follow them- it's body came to a point directly above the Pelican- and the airship's main power core reached critical mass.

Reactor plasma vomited out in all directions, engulfing the Zivon's underside. The street's underground supports were weakened by the 'quake that had occurred during the Great Cataclysm- and an explosion equal to 400 pounds of TNT equivalent didn't help matters, either. The street collapsed beneath the colossus' weight, and it dropped out of sight. Bomonga and Kualus had put two buildings between them and the blast, and they still felt it deep in their chests. The Warthog didn't fare much better- the shockwave from the explosion caught it in the middle of another turn, this time into a short alleyway, and had shoved it into the wall. Clarke fell out of the damaged vehicle, coughing up blood. '_Oh crap, that can't be good._'

Whenua had slipped out the other side, and was coughing too. He looked up to the Toa of Fire- and his eyes widened. Vakama was unconscious, slumped over the Gauss cannon, having taken the lion's share of the shockwave- and already, they could hear the Visorak horde screeching, closing in. An answering roar came from the hole... and Clarke went to the side of the building to look out.

A massive claw thrust up from the ground near the blast zone, moving from side to side before retracting, bringing a clump of road material down with it. The Spartan-IV watched, dumbstruck, as the Zivon's head popped out of the hole, and it turned to stare down their street. "You've got to be kidding me. This is complete and utter bullshit!" Lieutenant Clarke reached back into the Warthog and grabbed the discarded M41 and three boxes of ammo, before sprinting into the street.

By that point, the scorpion-like monster had started to climb out, stabbing it's claws into the side of the hole and leveraging itself up. Once again, the creature's size was non-indicative of it's movement capabilities. The blast had accomplished at least one thing, at least.  
It had _really_ pissed the Zivon off.

"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE DIED FROM THAT!" Clarke shouted at the creature, before firing off two rockets in succession at it. Both landed, but all that happened was that it doubled it's efforts to get out of the hole. It's front legs impaled themselves into the ground at the top of the hole, giving it additional lifting power to pull the rest of itself out. Two more rockets were sent downrange, which once again did nothing but provide a mild irritant. It was while the Spartan was reloading for a third salvo that the realization that nothing he had could stop it sunk in. The main part of the Zivon's body finally cleared the edge of the hole, it's eyes filled with fury- and hunger.

Clarke didn't even turn to look at the two Toa on and around the Warthog. It was sufficiently out of view, enough that the scorpion wouldn't notice it unless it was actively searching for the vehicle. Just the same, he shouted a warning, "Whenua, take Vakama and hide!", before firing off another rocket- and starting to run.

* * *

AN: Once again, sorry for the long wait before updating.

To reply to [user designate] toalorikan626: My explanation for the Po-Matoran in the sphere being so far away from the Coliseum is as follows.

Tuvan had a... history with being somewhat of a troublemaker (mostly in smuggling). Thus, when he saw the Vahki start to round up the population, he did the exact opposite of what the other Matoran were doing- he ran and hid.

It took the Vahki quite some time to find him, 'pacify' him, and by the time that they loaded him into a Matoran Sphere and started carrying it back to the Coliseum, Teridax had been outed as an imposter and had started the Great Cataclysm. The Vahki squadron that were flying the Sphere to the center of the city were disabled and plummeted from the sky. The Sphere itself got stuck between two buildings.

Almost like a low-hanging fruit.

And then the Mgalekgolo Gestalt came along.


	11. Titanomachy

**CHAPTER 11  
TITANOMACHY  
**  
The Zivon had lifted itself completely out of the hole, and begun to pursue the SIV, closing the gap terrifyingly fast. It reached out with one of it's claws to grasp the tiny fireflyer that had dared to attack it, only for the grey-colored individual to launch itself forwards, just enough so that the pincers could not close on it. At that moment, it vanished from view- but sight was not the creature's primary hunting tool. It still heard the prey's movement- heard every footstep, every breath it took. It continued to pursue the solitary morsel, lashing out again with it's claws- which closed on thin air. Another explosive projectile impacted it- this time right in it's open mouth. This, at last, caused it to recoil, before bringing it's claw down towards the prey, intending to impale it.  
And then something large smashed into it from the right side, causing it to stumble sideways into the structure on the left, it's claw stabbing into the road. There was a loud bellow from it's newest attacker. The Zivon itself could not understand the words-  
"TELL ME THE ANSWER!"

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
FIFTEEN MINUTES AFTER ALLIANCE**

Lieutenant Matt Clarke saw the pincer descending. Time seemed to slow down- he knew that by the time he brought up his left arm and activated the interface shield, the claw would have stabbed straight through him. The shield probably wouldn't even stop it, anyway.

In the back of his mind, a part of him wondered about his family- they would never see him again. The UNSC had probably declared APEX KIA anyway. Or MIA. He didn't know whether or not that protocol even applied to Spartan-IVs. Commander Palmer probably considered them all deserters- they did, after all, turn off their transponders before going on that mission. It was probably better for them to go on thinking that he had been shot down by Covenant forces and melted in Epoloch, rather than dying because of some gigantic scorpion monster. At least he went out doing the right thi-

Something large exploded from the building next door, plowing into the monstrosity in front of him, and knocking the creature off balance. The claw slammed into the ground next to him, and slid through the road material. The new arrival shouted something- and to his amazement, he could actually understand it.  
"TELL ME THE ANSWER!"

'_Well. That was an odd battle cry._' Wait. If he could understand it, then that must mean-

"Sorry for taking so long, Lieutenant. I needed a bit more time than I thought to bring reinforcements to bear."

"Better late than never, Aeona!"

A green-colored creature shrugged it's way out of the building it had cored on it's way into the fight, bringing one of it's own claws down on the Zivon's side. The scorpion retaliated with a brutal swipe with it's right claw, causing the green creature to stumble to the left. It let out another bellow, and charged at the scorpion, catching it on it's jawline and forcing it back.

"Big, Green, and Mean over there- is it the reinforcements you mentioned?"

"No. It's something else. Deploying reinforcements now."

Above the fight, two flying rectangular constructs - both fifty meters in length, and twenty-two meters in height- came out of active camouflage. Massive hatches opened on their sides, releasing clouds of Aggressor and Enforcer Sentinels directly into the fray, spreading out throughout the streets. Clarke started running for a side alley as he realized that perhaps standing right next to two monsters beating the stuffing out of each other probably wasn't a good idea. Especially when the new arrival was a complete unknown as well.

As he ran, he noticed the distinct lack of spiders around the area. They probably had the exact same idea as him- that while those two were fighting, it was wise to be elsewhere. "Aeona, mark the building where Matau and Iruini were!"

"Matau and Iruini? I do not recognize those names-"

"Green warrior and the green VIP! Mark it!"

"Building marked. Spider activity around the area is increasing. There is an open access point on the roof."

"Take Sentinels from the second factory and clear the area! Avoid firing on the warriors or the VIPs! They are confirmed friendlies!"

Behind Clarke, there was a sudden screech.

**-**  
Aeona watched from above, her 'mind' currently focused in the two Sentinel manufacturing facilities above. Oh, she was elsewhere too, like in SPARTAN-IV-311's armor, and all the way back at Wingbase, but her true 'self' was on the manufacturing craft. For a human, such an experience would be overwhelming- but it was business as usual for a Smart AI like herself.

The scorpion had taken a blow straight to the eye from the green creature, and as it recoiled, it was hit by a full mortar barrage from ten Enforcer Sentinels, which covered it's entire upper body in detonations. It charged up it's energy emplacements, and fired four blasts in retaliation- all aimed at the creature that SPARTAN-IV-311 had termed Big, Green, and Mean. Two of the energy projectiles were intercepted by the Enforcers, the machines simply flying into the path of the oncoming attacks. Almost immediately, odd signal returns came from the afflicted Sentinels- Aeona simply cut their power off completely, lest the effects spread to the rest of the units under her command. A third was disrupted by mass Aggressor fire, and only the fourth managed to impact it's target. The scorpion scuttled towards [ANIMAL DESIGNATE BGM], shrugging off the attacks of the Sentinels. That was somewhat worrisome.

Two other biomechanical creatures were 'riding' on the back of BGM- though the term 'riding' was not exactly as applicable as it could be, given how the two brown biomechs were more holding on for dear life, with no apparent opening to disembark their mount. Another creature was swooping around the battlefield, launching quick striking attacks on the enemy scorpion, which was about the best that it could do, as a solid hit from either of the two large beasts would put it out of commission instantly.

A spider patrol was making it's way towards SPARTAN-IV-311's position. With him cloaked, they shouldn't detect him- but part of Aeona's programming was to not allow a human to come to harm through inaction. It was a simple task to assign a Sentinel group to escort him to the building, anyway. Movement on the street drew her attention- or, at least, a fraction of it. The source of the aforementioned movement was a M12G1 Warthog, being driven by the black warrior. This would normally provoke a hostile response- after all, theft of UNSC property was a serious crime- but SPARTAN-IV-311's designation of the warriors and their charges as 'friendlies' prevented her from taking action.

The battle was easy enough to manage. Any large concentrations of enemy forces making a run on the marked structure were introduced to the Forerunners' 'most basic countermeasures'- the acquisition of that particular bit of intelligence was quite interesting, to say the least. The warrior-controlled M12G1 was having a spot of trouble- it had run into the spider forces in the street, and had been disabled by their energy weapons. One of the warriors was still unconscious, and the black-armored one was trying to climb out of the driver's seat. The fight between the scorpion and BGM was slowly being pressed towards their location, and the spiders were closing in, a decent amount of them starting to charge their energy weapons.

Aeona contemplated the options available to her. If she intervened, she could save both of them. There were quite enough Sentinels in the local area to effortlessly interdict the spider projectiles. However, the warriors weren't UNSC- they weren't even human- and so did not fall under the protection of the Three Laws. On the other hand, the recordings from SPARTAN-IV-311's helmet-cam implied that the biomechanical warriors had agreed to an alliance, and that they were more than just some alien weapons test- SPARTAN-IV-311's recorded theory was that they were Forerunner constructs, a part of some sort of long-abandoned experiment with biomechanical life.

If so, than they might just possess technology capable of repairing the dreadnought- after it was eventually lifted from it's watery grave- and giving them a ride home. Plus, if they had hostile intentions, they could have capitalized on them when SPARTAN-IV-311 had opened himself to being hit by Blue - the individual designated Nokama, according to SPARTAN-IV-311's recorded data - or when SPARTAN-IV-311 had been knocked out during the crash. Plus, if SPARTAN-IV-311 were to know of their plight, he would probably order her to engage the spiders anyway. In the end, she utilized a very mundane method for her decision.

One of her combat subroutines flipped one-hundred-and-fifteen digital representations of various human coins, each coin representing every single Sentinel that could possibly assist the warriors that were pinned down. If the majority were to land on heads, she would simply back away and let the spiders have their fleeting victory- it would free up Sentinel units to focus on the defense of the marked structure, as per SPARTAN-IV-311's order. If tails, then she would insert the extensions of her will made adamantine - it was nice to finally have a proper designation for Forerunner construction material, rather than just 'Forerunner material' - into combat with the spider forces, and help the warriors get to the marked structure.

The results came in- and they were quite surprising. Exactly 57 coins had landed heads- and 57 had landed tails. In the center of it all, a single coin stood on it's side, perfectly straight. This was definitely an odd occurrence- something like this never came up in any of her 'for-fun' decisions before. She looked in closer- and the coin vanished. The Sentinel that had 'cast' it had been destroyed- if Aeona had cared about her individual extensions rather than utilizing them as pure cannon fodder, she would have realized that that particular Sentinel was about to be melted by a green-spider energy blast. Even now, as she analyzed the footage from the Sentinel right before it's destruction, she 'saw' the energy projectile closing in, and extrapolating that the point of impact was the center of it's 'eye'. More importantly, she would never be able to complete her experiment, or examine the odd coin out.

The energy projectiles coalescing on the spiders' back-mounted weapons were discharged, beginning their travel towards the target in one massive wave. Aeona could see how the energy blasts appeared to spin in the air, 'time' having slowed to a crawl- and how clustered each energy blast was to the other.

57 Sentinels 'rolled' to engage. 57 'rolled' to watch and gain intelligence on the spiders'- the Visorak's- offensive capabilities. Only one left the actual choice up to the puppeteer behind the strings.

**-**  
Whenua could only stare as the hemisphere of Visorak surrounding the foreign vehicle fired off an enormous salvo of Rhotuka in his direction. He barely had time to think, let alone act- and then a curtain of light washed down around him, spearing through the Rhotuka and dissipating their energies. The salvo ceased to exist in the combined energy discharge. And less than five seconds later, so did the closest group of Visorak, as the beams of light slid outwards, slicing straight through-and-through the spiders- and through the road as well.

A barrier of floating, humming constructs surrounded them- and the vehicle powered back up. A voice spoke through the robots, from all of them at once.

"Drive. Go to your friends. We will escort you. We will protect you."  
**  
-**  
Lieutenant Clarke was two buildings away from the marked structure when something smashed into him from behind. The Spartan went flying, hit the ground, and slid a good few meters before stopping. He groaned, rolled over as quick as he could- his spine burned with pain as he did so, but pain was preferable to death- and activated his shield. In front of him, Brown - Onewa - laid on the ground, not moving. His left arm was laid out at an unnatural angle- if Toa biology was the same as that of a human, then Onewa's arm was definitely broken.

Clarke got back onto his feet, and approached the fallen warrior, staying at a respectful distance. "Hey! Brown! This is an active battle-zone, soldier! Get up or get left!" The only response he got was a pain-filled glare - at least the warrior was conscious. "Listen, it would probably not be good for relations between our two civilizations if I were to just leave you to get eaten, stepped on, or any other method in which your existence comes to a most painful end. Now, you might not trust me, and you sure as hell don't like me, but guess what? I'm all you got right now! Your friends are up ahead, and they need our help! Now, I'm going to help you up, and we're both going to make our way to the-"

Three of the escorting Sentinels exploded, the units in question being impacted with multiple spider energy blasts. The rest of the mechanical constructs formed up on the hole punched into their formation, and returned fire. "Right then, guess that settles that! Up you go!" Clarke bent down, reaching out for Onewa's right shoulder. The Toa of Stone lashed out, catching the Lieutenant's legs and dropping the SIV onto his rear end. "I don't need your help," Onewa growled. "I can take care of myself." He began to lope away, heading towards the marked structure. Clarke rolled over, again- this time, the pain was almost blinding, stood back up, and proceeded to follow.

A soft chime over TEAMCOM indicated that Aeona had a message for him. "I thought you said that they were friendlies?"

"They are. Brown - Onewa - just doesn't like me. First impressions, I guess. The man's also probably in quite a lot of pain, as his arm is dislocated, most likely broken to boot."

"The man? I think you're becoming too attached to them."

"Hey, they could have either left me for dead or done the job themselves multiple times already, if they were truly hostile. And in case you didn't clue in yet, we're God knows where, most likely far outside of UNSC space, and currently stranded on an unknown world in definitely hostile territory. We sure as hell need allies."

"Well. If that's your opinion-"

"It damn well is!"

"...then I've prepared a little program for you. After going over through your armor's current recordings, I noticed that you had some trouble communicating with the natives after the Pelican's transmission gear was damaged. I'm uploading it now."

The interface device's hard-light shield flared into existence, showing a new icon connecting the interface device's translation program with the MJOLNIR GEN2's communication gear, and then with the functionality of the mask that had been plugged into the armor's neural interface port.

"There. Now you no longer need me to be around to be able to understand the local language, or for them to understand you. It also frees up whatever processing power I had to split off to run the program- now it's being controlled directly from the suit's computer itself. I made it simplistic enough that even a retro computer could understand and run it- Forerunner technology is amazing! Oh, by the way, there's a spider that will be at your seven-twenty-eight o'clock position in less than ten seconds, I recommend shooting it before then."

"Than- wait, what?" Clarke spun towards the area, saw nothing there- but fired a burst of AP ammo anyway. Something invisible fell from the side of the building where he had aimed, and landed in a tangle of limbs at the base of the structure. "Thanks for the heads-up, Aeona."

"No problem. By the way, you're at your destination. I'll create an entry point for you."

"Do it- then focus your firepower on clearing out that large spider spire to the south. This building won't hold up for long against a determined assault, not with those two titans slugging it out nearby."

One of the titans- the giant scorpion- suddenly was heaved into the air, and brought down on the building next door. Clarke froze as the creature's head swept past, it's massive jaws passing within less than six meters above his head. A piece of a spider's leg fell from it's open maw, stabbing into the ground next to the SIV. The scorpion was more focused on BGM, though- it grabbed a chunk of the now destroyed building and hurled it at the green beast, which deflected it away. A second chunk was sent flying at a different target- one of the Sentinel factories above the battlefield. The Forerunner craft took the hit straight on, one of the construction booms crumpling under the impact. It would seem that the Sentinel factories were not made to be directly targeted, as the craft started to lose cohesion, falling towards the battlefield.

Clarke took that moment to sprint inside the building, heading towards the sounds of combat. From outside, he heard the screeching of the scorpion- and then an impact as the Sentinel factory smashed into the ground.

Whenua carried Vakama off of the foreign vehicle- helping him inside the building. Behind him, one of the large robotic constructs latched onto the wheeled vehicle and carried it away. The Zivon began another charge at the Tahtorak, trying to grasp it with it's large pincers. He hoped that the green Rahi's counterattack wouldn't cause the monstrosity to land on this building next- and his hope was well placed when the scorpion was instead batted to the side. Mata Nui, he had never seen something take that much punishment and still keep moving- aside from the creatures in the underwater Rahi project, that is.

Before going inside, he looked over at the nearby Visorak spire. It would seem that they were having their own problems- the foreign constructs were attacking it in large numbers, forcing their way into it. It was good to have the stealers of life be on the defensive for a change- though he suspected the reason for their absence being the presence of the scorpion that they had summoned to fight for them.

Once inside, he saw the aftermath of the fight that had gone on. The other Toa were catching their breath, with Onewa clutching his left arm while wincing in pain. A clanking noise echoed from the opposite room- and the Spartan very nearly ran into five energy blasts from the weary Toa Hordika. "DON'T SHOOT! I'M A FRIENDLY!"

"Or so you say," Onewa growled.

"Hey, I offered to help you earlier. You attacked me in response."

A soft female voice filled the room. "Brother, Spartan, please stop fighting. We have bigger problems to deal with." Both the Toa of Stone and the SIV pointed at each other. "He started it!" The two uttered in unison, then looked at each other, surprised. Matau let out a chuckle, and was glared at by both Clarke and Onewa- though the former had his own grin slowly spreading over his face.

A loud 'thunk' sounded from outside, followed by a crash. "You know, I'm all for sitting down and holding a proper meeting for once, but how about we save that for later- you know, after we've wrecked our enemies' collective shit?"

Aeona continued to watch from above. The BGM was winning this fight, slowly but surely- and it definitely deserved a medal for improvised weapon usage. The scorpion monster was knocked to it's right again- the BGM having picked up the largest section of the Sentinel factory and was proceeding to beat the scorpion to death with it. Though it was probably less of the creature actually holding onto the block of adamantine, and more along the lines of the Forerunner construction material having clamped down tight around it's claws, forming what was essentially a club to bash it's enemy with. '_Semantics._'

The extensions of her will inside the 'spider spire', as SPARTAN-IV-311 had designated it, were having no end of trouble. The spiders had infested every single room inside, and rooting them out was proving to be a very difficult task.

Movement on the ground drew her attention- the red warrior was back on it's feet, and leading a charge towards the tower. Interestingly enough, SPARTAN-IV-311 had integrated himself into their formation- and unlike the warriors' movement back at what was some sort of school mockup, they were either slowing down enough for him to stay with them, or he was actually keeping pace with them. She filed it under the former.

Every single energy projectile fired at BGM was intercepted by the beast's own dedicated Sentinel defense formation. Aeona had long since determined that if BGM were to fall, nothing in the immediate area could stop the scorpion monster from devouring the warrior team- and SPARTAN-IV-311. Therefore, the UNSC Smart AI had to join in what was essentially a supersized cockfight. All to protect SPARTAN-IV-311.  
It had nothing to do with selling the recordings later on the black market, if they ever got back to UNSC space. No, nothing like that.

**PO-METRU DISTRICT**

The Gestalt was hungry. It wanted to feed- but the call prevented it from doing so.

It had found the source of the call, a cave in the side of a cliff. Creatures had come out to challenge it. They were now naught but food for the worms within it's colony. It proceeded into the cave, and came across a multitude of stone tablets. It wanted to feed- but the call prevented it from doing so.

One side of the cavern was covered in scribblings. The Gestalt knew not what the symbols meant. It wondered why the call summoned it here. The Lekgolo within it's colony were suddenly struck by a feeling of fear, of perverse wrongness. They knew that they had been changed, altered, into something else. They sat on the precipice of an abyss- they could either fall in and let it consume them, take away whatever remained of civilized thoughts, succumb to the hunger in full- or stay true to what they were instructed by their Sangheili overseers. It was one or the other- it could not be both.

The Gestalt started devouring itself, the colony falling into a civil war over the decision.

The call continued.  
CHOOSE.

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
TWENTY-FOUR MINUTES AFTER ALLIANCE**

Lieutenant Clarke triggered his thruster pack, launching himself to the right, just barely dodging the 'spinner' let loose from the Vohtarak up above. It was good to finally know what the creatures were called- no more referring to them as 'green spiders', 'blue spiders', or 'hell-spiders'.

He was running awfully short on AP ammo, though. Next to him, Onewa swung his arm-mounted club around, catching a Suukorak in the eye. The Toa of Stone's arm had been healed- and the method in which it was was surprising. He didn't expect the Regeneration disks to work on the biomechs themselves, but rather just their structures. Either way, the warrior was back up to 100% combat efficiency. "If I ever meet the individual that made those disks, he's getting a lifetime supply of drinks, all on my tab," the SIV had said back in the marked structure, while the healing process was underway. Vakama had questioned as to where he had obtained the Kanoka, to which he had replied, "Some house in the Ga-Metru district. I would show you the video, but as is, this isn't the safest place to do a full recap."

Now they were pushing up on the spider tower, supported by Aeona's Sentinel forces, which were keeping the Visorak above suppressed. To the far left of their position, BGM and the scorpion creature known as the Zivon were still fighting, both combatants unwilling to back down. The third creature, which was repeatedly changing forms, kept the Zivon on the defensive- every time it over-extended itself, the shape-changer would strike, quick but hard. And every time the Zivon tried to engage at range, the local Sentinels focused down it's energy blasts.

They were just about to enter the tower proper when a shadow fell over them. Looking up, their eyes grew wide- and then they started sprinting to the entrance. Clarke looked up as well, saw the Zivon's massive bulk being lifted up by the Tahtorak, and tossed in their direction. No words were necessary- they all ran for the entrance after that. It was better to be inside the spider-infested structure than to be crushed beneath the scorpion's body. It hit the ground, hard, but righted itself way too quickly in the Spartan's opinion- something that big should not have such agility. He thought back to the creature that had pursued him to Wingbase, and wondered if the Reconstitution disk had unlocked some sort of dormant gene in the targeted spider, as he could definitely see similarities between the two species. He made a note to never use that particular disk type on the spiders ever again.

An energy blast flew over his head, reminding him of the current situation. He quickly brought his rifle to bear, and began firing back, covering Vakama and Onewa as they led the assault.

Aeona 'relaxed', continuing to observe the battle from the digital environment she had created on-board the second Sentinel factory ship. It was effortless to control the Sentinels throughout the battlefield, almost as if she had multiple arms flowing through the streets and sky below- and whatever she 'pointed at' ceased to exist shortly afterwards. She smiled when the scorpion creature- now designated as the Zivon- was hurled through the air by the reptilian beast designated Tahtorak. She watched as it smashed into the ground outside the tower, and then predictably, charged towards the Tahtorak again. This was getting tiresome. She began to get bored. She took her focus off of the titanic conflict area, and 'moved' to watch the battle in the spider tower through the eyes of her Sentinels, putting the ones outside on autopilot, to only fire at the energy blasts that targeted BGM.

She saw the warriors- the Toa- advance under protective fire from SPARTAN-IV-311, with the little green VIP close by, but noticed that he was running low on ammunition for his BR85. And with him inside, there was not much that she could do- other than sacrifice some of her own Sentinels to allow SPARTAN-IV-311 to utilize their Z-1502 Sentinel Beam weapons. The signal was given, and every Sentinel on his floor within fifty meters of his position self-destructed in a manner that left their weapons still usable. The formerly suppressed spider positions charged forward to press their apparent advantage, but SPARTAN-IV-311 could handle himself- and if it got too bad, he could always just cloak himself and retreat. The local warriors were incapable of such an action- but their lives mattered nothing to her.

SPARTAN-IV-311 was clipped by one of the enemy energy blasts, and went down. Aeona reacted immediately, rerouting all other Sentinels around the structure towards his position. Odd. His motion tracker should have alerted him to the spider that was flanking him- and then she recalled that his visor had been shattered, denying him the usage of his heads-up display. Oops. All this new intelligence about Forerunner technology was distracting- and more than a bit overwhelming.

Her Sentinels arrived on station, and covered SPARTAN-IV-311 as he got back to his feet. She toyed with the idea of simply carrying him out of the battlefield on her Sentinels, and retreating from the field- after all, Wingbase was impenetrable by the 'Visorak' forces, and all they had to do was wait for the UNSC to eventually respond to the automated distress call she had set up for evacuation. She had found the Forerunner equivalent of a cryo-pod for SPARTAN-IV-311 to utilize- she had found quite a few of them, actually. All unoccupied.  
But in the end, SPARTAN-IV-311 would protest against the action.

A screeching noise and subsequent warning sirens alerted her to her folly. While concentrating on the indoor battle, her auto-piloted Sentinels had not been notified to protect the manufacturing facility from incoming attacks- and now it's long-range communication system was broken due to a section of one of the nearby structures taking it clean off the craft. She could still coordinate Sentinel forces- but could no longer contact Wingbase, or directly access SPARTAN-IV-311's armor systems.

A large force of spiders were gathering to the east, pushing straight towards the battle. '_Hmm. They sent reinforcements. More fodder for the flame, then._'  
**  
PO-METRU DISTRICT**

The original Gestalt was gone- the worms from the first colony had fallen prey to the mutated variations from the ravaged second. Hunger had won.

A new call was heard. It came from within.

CONSUME. GROW. MULTIPLY.

The newborn thanolekgolo heeded the call.  
They were hungry. They needed to feed.  
**  
METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
THIRTY-ONE MINUTES AFTER ALLIANCE**

From the roars and screeches outside, the titanic battle still hadn't come to an end. Inside the structure was a different story- with the direct assistance of the Sentinels, Clarke and the Toa had pressed deeper inside. The entire ground floor now belonged to them- and only God knew how many floors were left in the structure. The Spartan walked up to the Toa as they were talking amongst themselves. "Sorry for interrupting your meeting, but may I suggest something?" Onewa looked ready to dispute the idea, and for a second, so did Vakama. The Toa of Water gave both of them a sharp look, before glancing back at the Spartan. "How about we retreat outside- after the Zivon is taken care of, that is- and just wall up all the outer entrances, while keeping a Sentinel garrison on the ground floor to prevent the spiders from burrowing out? If they are nothing but animals, as you have said repeatedly, they will eventually turn on each other. We just need to keep them cooped up with no means of escape for long enough."

The idea was initially met with silence, then Nuju spoke. "We had just come to that conclusion ourselves. It would be a waste of energy to clear out the entire structure, along with the risk of extending ourselves and being struck from behind, or isolated from each other."

A screech came from outside- akin to the same one that had occurred when Golf-41 had detonated underneath the Zivon and caused it to fall through the street. All eight heads turned towards the noise. "And if that was any indication, the battle is close to being done."

Through the Sentinels, Aeona heard what was said, and had to agree. The Zivon had finally landed a blow on the quick-moving shape-shifter, and knocked it deep into a building, which had then collapsed on it. In response, the Tahtorak had charged the Zivon and got caught in it's claws, then stung repeatedly. This was apparently part of the BGM's plan, though, as it had subsequently caught the Zivon's stinger tail in it's mouth, and torn it clean off. As the Zivon retreated in pain - '_Finally, it actually backed down!_' - Aeona had focused fire on the Zivon's energy emplacements as they were charging up. The subsequent discharges had fried the emitters, and had the bonus effect of severely debilitating the creature itself. With that, the UNSC AI no longer needed to keep her Sentinels in the titan engagement, and redirected them towards the Visorak reinforcements.

Inside one of the half-destroyed buildings, a pile of rubble shifted. A multicolored spider lifted itself out of the destroyed masonry of the structure, and looked forward. The situation was dire.

The Zivon- the insatiable siege monster of the Visorak horde- was wounded, rendered nigh-impotent by the titanic green Rahi and the metal birds that had inflicted grievous losses on the local Visorak population. It knew it only had one shot at turning the tide of battle, and so waited as the metal birds turned away and started heading towards the reinforcements summoned by Sidorak.

There- now was it's chance! It charged up it's Rhotuka spinner, and fired.

Aeona observed from above. The Tahtorak was closing in with the Zivon, preparing to deliver the finishing blow. With the creature silenced, the warrior team, the green VIP, and SPARTAN-IV-311 had left the structure, and were beginning to- now that was impressive. SPARTAN-IV-311 had been looking around for debris to apparently barricade the spiders inside, but the warrior team had something else in mind. Using their energy 'spinners', the white, black, and brown warriors had started to cover the sides of the structure in ice, dirt, and stone, respectively. Elemental and resource manipulation on that scale? From such small weapons? Perhaps SPARTAN-IV-311 was right to seek an alliance with the native population.

The sensors on the Sentinel construction vessel suddenly detected an energy discharge. It was put on visual- and time slowed down. Aeona could see the projectile as it moved, in picture-perfect resolution. Her forces were more than eight hundred meters away already, and pointed in the wrong direction. The Sentinels at the Spider Spire were now trapped inside, and so could not move to help without destroying the blockade around them. She started deploying more Sentinels, but knew that by the time they left the construction platform, the projectile would have impacted it's target.

She could do nothing more than watch as BGM was struck in the side- and vanished in an instant. There one moment- gone the next. The Zivon was now free to continue it's rampage, now that the biggest competitor to it had been taken care of. Even now, she saw the creature's movement- it's head slowly turning around to face the warrior team- and she knew what was expected of her.

_An AI may not injure an UNSC civilian or soldier, or, through inaction, allow an UNSC civilian or soldier to come to harm._

So be it.  
She cut the power to the Sentinel construction factory's anti-gravity systems, and let herself fall.  
**  
-**  
Lieutenant Clarke had been looking towards the spire, impressed - and more than slightly awe-struck at what the Toa had done, when he heard the gasp behind him. He shifted his head. "What's wrong?"  
Vakama answered him. "The Tahtorak! It's gone!"

"The hell- oh."

Looking out over the rubble that used to be a block of structures, he could see the Zivon slowly turning to face them- and the distinct absence of a big green monster to counter it. He started to back away, aware that the only thing they could do was to run, and hope that a few of them managed to evade and hide from the creature- and then he noticed a shadow above the scorpion, getting bigger and wider-

The Sentinel factory came down with a huge smash, landing directly on the creature's back- there was a loud cracking noise heard at the moment of impact, with the creature's eyes almost bulging out of it's head due to the pressure increase. The heavy weight didn't stop there- it continued on, trapping the Zivon between it and the street, pulverizing the supports beneath and causing it to collapse, just like what happened with the Pelican explosion. The scorpion tried to let out another screech, but no sound came from it's jaws. And then it disappeared into the hole.

**-**  
Aeona looked around. The impact had seriously damaged the Sentinel factory, but she still had command control over the Sentinels. She tasked them with one sole, overriding objective. "Kill all those damn spiders. Do not take offensive action against anything else but the spiders."

The creature beneath her shifted. '_It can't be...it's still alive? Even with it's entire lower body flattened?_' Simply containing it would not be enough. Looking through the eyes of the five Enforcer Sentinels she had tasked with finding the spider that had killed the Tahtorak, she noticed that the second one had managed to capture the creature, and was about to crush it in it's massive claws. She cut off a chunk of herself and streamed it from the factory to the Enforcer, taking it over completely before it could do so. She had another task for it.

The fragment of herself at Wingbase could keep the defenses running, and was developed enough to recognize the difference between friendlies and hostiles.

SPARTAN-IV-311 was approaching the wreck. She sent out whatever Sentinels she could to stop him. She could not take the chance of the ground giving way beneath him.

"Aeona, respond!"

She spoke through the Sentinels. "I am here. Do not come any closer- the creature is still alive."

"For- What does it take to kill this thing? I blew it up, it got in a fight with what should be redesignated as the patron animal of the UNSC Army- you know, all green and angry- and you just dropped a damn ship on it. How is it still alive?"

"It won't be for much longer." The Enforcer circled around, carrying the captured Kahgarak below it, and vanished into the hole.

"What are you going to do?"

"Hit it with the same weapon that slew the BGM. I don't know what it's effects are on clustered targets, so that's why I want you to stay away, in case it takes more than just the Zivon."

"You don't have to do this, Aeona! We can find another way to kill it!"

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right, Lieutenant Matt Clarke?"

And with that, the Enforcer sent an electric current through the Kahgarak's body, triggering it's weapon to charge and fire. The Zivon was hit full in the face- and vanished. And so did the construction facility. And... Aeona.

The Sentinels immediately paused, the controlling mind gone. In it's place were a sole set of directives.

PRIORITY: KEEP LIEUTENANT MATT CLARKE [SPARTAN-IV-311] SAFE  
ASSIST LOCAL WARRIOR FORCES DESIGNATE 'TOA' - DO NOT ATTACK OR OTHERWISE HARM THEM  
ASSIST LOCAL VIP FORCES DESIGNATE 'RAHAGA' - DO NOT ATTACK OR OTHERWISE HARM THEM

KILL EVERY LAST GODDAMN SPIDER IN THIS CITY  
PRIORITY: DO NOT ALLOW DIRECTIVES OR CODE TO BE ALTERED AFTER THIS TAKES EFFECT

Enclosed in the last directive was a targeting ledger, showing a list of creatures to kill. Every one of the seven Visorak breeds was on the targeting ledger. The Sentinels accepted the new code- and immediately re-engaged the Visorak forces.

Clarke stumbled backwards when the Sentinel factory disappeared. The four Sentinels in front of him fell to the ground, and powered down completely.  
Aeona was gone.

He triggered the interface device, scrolling over the various icons- there were a lot more than he remembered- looking for one in particular. A tree. There was no match.  
Aeona was gone.

He was alone. Completely separated from all possible UNSC contact. Stranded on a world that, for all intents and purposes, could be on the rim of the Milky Way, far outside of human space. He fell to his knees, the sudden weight pressing down on him. He could feel a tear welling up, even though that they had only met each other less than a day before the end of the Requiem Occupational Campaign, when his team had recovered her from the wreckage of one of the two Strident-class frigates that were destroyed during the mass attack on _Infinity_ by the Covenant remnant faction.

_Every_ life is important. _Even synthetic life_.

He could hear footsteps behind him. He looked up and to his right. As expected, Blue - Nokama - was there.

"She didn't have to do that," Clarke said, hoping that he had masked the tremor in his voice- hoping that it would get lost in the exotic translation equipment that the Forerunners utilized, or that the 'Kanohi' was infused with. "I... we could have found another way."

"I don't doubt that, in time, we could have brought down the Zivon ourselves."

"Sometimes, we have to make tough choices. Mata Nui knows that sometimes impulsive, snap decisions are not the best- the mask-maker over there should know that by now," Onewa stated, causing the SIV to jump- he had not heard the Toa of Stone approaching from the other direction.

"Feeling bad about what could have been will not bring your companion back. Look to the future- and what can be." That was from the Toa of Ice, who had also approached behind him. Inwardly, Clarke was cursing his lack of a motion tracker.

"...Fine. Not a word of this to anyone, though, got it? If APEX learned that their commanding officer almost shed a tear... well, Rick would never let me forget it. And within a day, all of S-Deck would know about it too."

"Apex?"

"My squad. Fireteam Ape- shit." The SIV's head dropped, obscuring his face.

"What?"

Lieutenant Clarke raised his head, a tinge of embarrassment causing his cheeks to flush. "Well, I don't think I should be telling you about that. Top secret, and all."

"Don't make u-"

"Brother..."

"You know what? Screw it. Learning about APEX isn't that much of a security breach- if I get put in front of a tribunal, there will be more for me to deal with than letting a few natives know about a random SPARTAN-IV Fireteam. But not out in the street. Is there any building that we could go in that isn't about to collapse?"  
Once again, as if invoking some sort of timing spirit, the closest building to the group gave way, the front of it sliding into the hole.  
"Case in point."

* * *

AN: I hope I got the guano-crazy durability of the Zivon correct.

...for those that don't know what thanolekgolo are, they're the sub-species of 'Hunter worms' in Halo: Nightfall. Yeah. _Those things_. For the purposes of this story, they are _Hordika-fied Lekgolo_.


	12. Explanations and Renovations

**CHAPTER 12  
EXPLANATIONS AND RENOVATIONS**

METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
THIRTY-SIX MINUTES AFTER ALLIANCE

The group had regrouped with Kualus and Bomonga, and retreated inside one of the severed sections of the other Sentinel factory- even with it having been shattered into three pieces, the interior was still partially functional. It was easy to open one of the deployment hatches, get everybody inside, and close it behind them. A simple tap on the interface device was enough to flip on the interior lights- and after a quick look at the construction facility section's structural integrity deemed it safe, the group finally relaxed, and sat down on the adamantine floor.

"Before you start, I think it's time to address the Kikanalo in the room," Vakama stated, looking at Lieutenant Clarke. "We've never seen any other individuals like you. Where are you from, exactly?"

"I come from a far-flung land- from the United Prairie Provinces, UNRA." Clarke replied, trying- and succeeding- to keep a poker face on. '_Individual nations are okay to divulge,_' he thought, '_as long as I don't mention specific worlds or star systems._'  
"It's quite a distance away. We haven't ever seen members of your species, either. The only lifeform that comes close are Huragok, and while they are exceedingly talented at constructing and improving technology, they lack the individualistic natures that you possess- though that's probably due to them being in forced indentured service to the Covenant for so long."

"The Covenant?"

Clarke's head dropped again, then rose back up. "Sorry. That's one of those details that are classified. I can tell you this much; they aren't nice folks."

"I... see. What can you tell us?"

"First off, clarification on my species. We're called humans- homo sapiens sapiens, in full scientific terms. And, before you ask, yes, we're fully organic. That doesn't mean we're weak, mind- we're plenty capable of beating the piss out of other races' militaries' that try to attack us. The full details of which are, once again, classified- though know that the Covenant is one of those races."

Onewa scoffed. "You seemed to go down easy enough, back when we first met."

"Extenuating circumstances. Also, consider yourself lucky that we're allies now- otherwise, I would be looking for an opportunity to return the favor."

"Why hold yourself back? Come on, I'm right here!" Onewa got to his feet, with the Spartan doing the same.

"Inter-unit brawling isn't all that good for troop coordination between groups, you know."

"Oh, so you're afraid that you'll lose? I knew you were a Pokawi, all along!"

"I have no idea what that is."

Off to the side, Nokama sighed. Once again, Onewa was provoking a fight, and she was getting tired of always having to intervene before blows started flying. She opened her mouth to speak- and Whenua cut her off. "A Pokawi is a small avian Rahi, normally found in Po-Metru. It is most easily identified by it's 'pok-pok' cry-"

Clarke shifted his gaze from Whenua to the Toa of Stone, his eyes beginning to harden. "Did you just call me a chicken?"

"Maybe I did. What's it to you?"

Lieutenant Clarke let out a low growl of frustration, his body slightly lowering towards the ground, and tension starting to build in his off-foot. His fists clenched. All of the Toa in the room felt their Hordika sides starting to rise to the surface, reacting to the obvious threat display. Surprisingly, it was Onewa that broke the tension. "Nah, I was just joking with you. Your people do understand those, right? Jokes?"

"Aye. I have one for you. A Toa of Stone walks into a club."

The sentence was met with stares- until the Toa of Air spoke. "And?"

"That was the joke."

It took a few seconds for the others to catch on- Bomonga was the first to do so, and he subsequently stared at Onewa. "He's telling you to stop aggravating him."

"I'm aggravating him? Perhaps he shoul-"

"Brother. Please." Nokama had finally gotten involved- and, just like before, the Toa of Stone backed down almost right away. Once again, Clarke inwardly sighed in relief. '_I hope she's not keeping track of all the times that I 'owe her one'. That's going to be one hell of an IOU._'

"Clarke? Please continue."

The Spartan sat back down, the smile returning to his face.

"How about this- you ask me a question, and I answer it as best as I can."

"What was that airship you arrived in?" This was from Vakama.

"I take it you don't mean the Pelican." A horizontal shake of the head from Vakama- a familiar gesture, but just to make sure... "That shaking of your head- that means no, right?"

"Yes."

"Good. Just wanted to make sure. As for the airship, as you call it, it is - was - a relic from a long lost era. Fireteam APEX was assigned to recover a group of ancient naval vessels- that was the one that I was sent to acquire."

"You're not a ever-good pilot, are you?" This from the Toa of Air. 'Matau, I think,' Clarke thought to himself.

"...While aircraft usage is not what I've been trained for, I figure I have picked up enough passable skills from Apex's actual pilot to hold my own."

"Obviously not enough. You hard-crashed both of the airships we have spot-seen you in control of."

"Hey, both times I had just been shot! You try controlling stuff that have had critical damage inflicted on it!"

"I have, multiple times! Every single time I've ended up on the hard-ground!"

"And what condition were the craft in afterwards?"

That shut him up. A smirk appeared on the SPARTAN-IV's face. "Next question?"

The Toa of Earth spoke up. "What are your people like?"

"Very... diverse. Different cultures, different opinions. My turn. Vakama?"

The Toa of Fire focused on him. "The translation device you gave me- how is it made?" Clarke inquired.

"Translation- you mean the Rau. It's relatively simple- if you know what you're doing."

"Tell you what. I'll devote every scrap of my free time to helping you out- honestly, I would have done this anyway- if, in return, after this whole arachnid extermination campaign is over with, and we take back this city- if you would educate me on how to manufacture these. Ease of translation would solve a lot of problems back home."

"Great. So the foreigner has pledged to help us with 'taking back Metru Nui', and all he wants in return is to learn how to make masks." Onewa stated in a sarcastic voice. "Anybody else just the slightest bit suspicious?"

"There are other requests too- like learning about your technology, and how you were able to do that stuff with ice and rock. By the way, that was awesome, just saying. And before I forget," at this, Clarke turned towards Nuju, "thank you for assisting me when that brown spider had me pinned down."

Nuju nodded his head. "And thank you for diverting the Visorak's focus off of us, along with taking out the Keelerak that had us pinned. Though I must ask... why are your weapons so geared towards lethality?"

"Because fighting enemies with one hand tied behind your back is a great way to end up in the morgue. Especially when said enemies already command a decent advantage over you in the first place. That being said, I'm almost out of AP ammo- let's hope there's not any more battles until I get back to Wingbase."

"Wingbase? What kind of name is that?" Onewa. Again.

"The ship that I rode in on? It's wing had detached from it as it flew over the district you know as Ga-Metru. It's currently lying near the beach- and it's defenses are active, just in case you're worried about the Visorak gaining control of it's weaponry. It makes for a good base, therefore- Wingbase. My turn again. Whenua."

"Uh, yes?"

"I'll list off the colors of the Visorak. You tell me their species' names, so as to prevent any confusion on the battlefield. Also, feel free to tell me of any abilities that they might have. Red."

"Vohtarak. Their spinners- Rhotuka- can inflict burning pain on a target, and they can enter beserker states, where they charge towards a target and become nearly unstoppable when they do so."

"Aye. I had to fight a few on my own. That was... not enjoyable. Green."

"Keelerak. Their spinners contain highly effective acid. Their claws are extremely sharp, and sometimes they jump into the air and whirl around towards their target."

"...thanks for that save, by the way. Black."

"You're welcome. Oohnorak. They are often used as battering rams when Vohtarak are not in beserker states, or when the Visorak don't have siege engines nearby. Their spinners numb their targets, and they possess latent telepathic powers, along with the ability to mimic the voices of others."

Matau interjected. "That's how the Visorak managed to get inside the building we were in-hiding! One of them voice-sounded like Nokama, and when I quick-rushed to the door to open it-"

"You let them in- and you threw me across the room before I could explain what was happening." Iruini glared at the Toa of Air.

"Had an experience with an... Oohnorak? It didn't survive the encounter. And then I got ambushed by invisible spiders. Brown."

"Roporak. Those are those invisible spiders you just mentioned. They can make themselves undetectable, and their spinners drain the energy out of a target, putting it into a state of unconsciousness."

"You sure? The ones that ambushed me were Vohtarak."

"Wait... what?"

"They were red spiders- the Vohtarak. They also possessed the capability to set themselves on fire- that was a surprise, indeed. I noticed you didn't mention that little bit in your description."

Whenua's eyes started to widen. "That's because they can't- at least, not the ones we've been fighting. You sure these were Vohtarak?"

Clarke simply pulled up the interface device, opened up the recording feature, selected 'View Record', and scrolled through to the battle. They watched from the execution of the Oohnorak, all the way to the clearing of the webs blocking the road. "Yep. They were red."

Bomonga looked around at the gathered individuals. "Roodaka must be breeding the species together. This is a very unfortunate occurence, indeed. We thank you, traveler, for bringing this knowledge to us. Were we to go into battle without this knowledge..."

"Bad intel can cause the defeat of nations. Commander Palmer should read a damn book sometime."

"Commander Palmer?" Iruini queried.

"...normally I'd say this is classified, but what the hell. Commander Palmer is CIC - commander-in-chief - of all the SPARTAN-IVs. As APEX Lead, I normally have a handler back at base- Spartan Jean-Devin Bordeau- but Commander Palmer outranks her, and can take executive command of my team whenever she wished to do so. As for personality... well, think of a female Onewa. Only with a lot less self-restraint."

"Hey!"

"That's a mental picture that none of us wanted to have, stranger."

"Sorry," Clarke said, though the short grin on his face implied everything but. "Anyway, where were we... oh right. White spiders."

"Uh..." Whenua blinked a few times- probably still trying to get rid of the image of a 'female Onewa'. "Suukorak. Spinners trap their prey in an electrified web. They can also slow down their vital signs, appearing to be dead, but able to jump right back up in a split second."

Nuju spoke up. "That's how they managed to corner us in that chute station. One second we were working on gathering pieces of chutes for the airships, and the next- spiders everywhere."

"I'll keep that in mind- make sure the white ones are dead before moving on. Blue."

"Boggarak. Their spinners have two functions- in water, they make their target inflate and rise to the surface. On land, it turns their target to dust. Now, I haven't seen it myself, but according to Norik, they're also able to emit a hum that turns their enemies to gas."

Clarke was silent for a moment, thinking about all the near-misses he had experienced. "...Shit. That's... holy crap."

"I've noticed that you don't seem to capture enemies alive, or try incapacitating them, but rather always go for the kill. Why is that?"

"Frankly, our- as in humanity as a whole- our enemies go for the same. And only with lethal weaponry do we stand a chance of stopping them. Once again, fighting with one hand behind your back usually ends up with you in a grave. And with the enemy possessing weapons and capabilities like that..." The Lieutenant paused, then continued. "Whenua? Last question relating to the spiders. What are the multicoloured ones- the big suckers called?"

"Kahgarak." Bomonga cut off the Toa of Earth. "They serve as elite guards for the horde. Their Rhotuka can open a portal to what we know only as the Field of Darkness- and it can also send whatever it hits to that same location."

"So... Aeona could still be alive?"

"Perhaps. But do not think that you can simply go there and rescue her. The Field of Darkness is vast- and no light can penetrate it. Also, we have no idea whether or not the Zivon is but one of it's species- there may be more lurking in the Field."

"The UNSC never leaves their own behin-"

"Whenever possible. That's what you said before. In your current state, it is not possible now. And if you were to go into the Field of Darkness, there is no guarantee that you could come back out."

"Aeona had a Kahgarak in her possession when she transitioned there."

"And it is most likely dead now."

"Face facts- your friend is gone. She's not coming back." Onewa stated, almost offhandly. "Right no-"

Clarke moved. One second he was sitting down with the group, and the next second, he was invisible. There was a pattering of footsteps- and Onewa was thrown to the left. Clarke reappeared, punch already in motion, and connected solidly with the right side of the Toa of Stone's face. Onewa wasn't slow in retaliating, and got the Lieutenant in the left shoulder. The punch was enough to lift the SIV off of him. Clarke triggered his thruster pack, rolled free, and got into a standard hand-to-hand combat pose. And then was tackled from the left. Face pressed into the floor, he felt a pressure near the back of his neck. "Stop fighting! Please! We're Toa, not Piraka or Dark Hunters!" A pause, then... "Vakama, get off of him." The pressure vanished, and he heard the soft padding of footsteps against the metal. The nice, cool metal...

All of the injuries he had sustained in the past few days suddenly rushed back to reintroduce themselves, and so did unconsciousness. In the back of his mind, he heard a female voice... "Aeona?" He muttered, and then-

Darkness.

Nokama watched the Spartan on the floor. There had been a moment of concern when they had rolled him over, and found no response, no indication of a heartlight- and then noticed the faint movement of the organic's face. Whenua had taken mental notes- even as a Toa, he still was an Archivist- and then moved away. Three of the metal Rahi- Sentinels, as the Spartan had referred to them as- hovered around the top of the chamber in which they were in.

The rest of the Toa - except Onewa and Vakama - had dozed off too, taking the chance to rest in general safety, before starting on the salvaging of whatever airship parts they could find. The other three Rahaga had arrived at the structure, and had climbed in through one of the hatches that the foreign Rahi used to move in and out from the interior to outside.

Onewa was looking at the overall interior, as was Vakama. The metal was interesting- it wasn't protodermis, that much they could tell. Neither was the material that the foreigner's armor was made out of- or the individual himself. None of them had ever heard of a 'United Prairie Provinces', or anything like 'Urna', either. Perhaps he came from one of the far southern lands?

What really interested her was what his civilization was like. They were obviously a warrior species, as evidenced by the fact that he had no problem taking the life of another being. However, he wasn't as bad as a Skakdi, which killed for the pure sake of killing- otherwise Bomonga would not have survived his initial encounter with the foreigner. He seemed surprised- impressed- awe-struck by elemental powers, which meant that they were either uncommon where he came from, or they just didn't have them.

Perhaps they were like Matoran? Toa-sized, organic Matoran, but Matoran nonetheless? It would explain their industrialized nature. Onewa had taken the soldier's weapon outside and tried to see how it worked, but every time he pulled the protrubance on the bottom - as Nuju had showed him to do, since that was how the weapons on the 'Pelican' had worked- all that came out was a 'click'. Fiddling around with it some more, a piece of metal had come loose from the bottom, and after that, the 'trigger' didn't have any resistance when pressure was applied to it. Onewa had brought it back inside and tossed it on the ground, proclaiming it 'broken', and that wherever the foreigner came from, they didn't make long-lasting weapons. Whether that was a good or bad thing, Nokama didn't know- just as she didn't know if Onewa had purposely broken the device just to spite the Spartan.

It was late. She was tired- they all were. She yawned, laid down, and went to sleep.

-  
Onewa watched as the other Toa fell asleep. It had been a long day, but he was wondering why they couldn't have found another place to sleep. One that didn't have a certain stranger in the room with them.  
The metal Rahi floating above didn't help either- their single, unblinking, blue optic was quite creepy. Especially as they continued to focus on him.

Mata Nui above, he couldn't sleep. He kept thinking of being picked up and thrown by an invisible force- and then the absolute rage in the stranger's eyes as his fist descended. While perhaps his comment should have simply remained in his head, and not spoken out loud, he wanted to gauge the foreigner's reaction to it.

He got exactly what he suspected, and more. The foreigner was a violent individual- a psychopath just waiting to snap. Tick tick tick... and then, boom. One of them might not be so lucky when the next outburst happens. It was as expected from a culture that had no respect for the sanctity of life- who killed their enemies at the first chance they had, making them no better than their foes.

He couldn't sleep. He had to keep watch- keep his brothers and sisters safe.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

**5 HOURS 51 MINUTES LATER**

Lieutenant Clarke twitched, feeling air moving over his face. "Wake up, sleepy-head!" He sat up with a jolt, banging his helmet into something solid and metal. He fell backwards- whatever it was didn't give under the sudden impact.

"Ah, so you do have quick-fast reflexes! Maybe you aren't such a terrible-bad pilot after all!"

He knew that voice. '_Name, what was the air-head's name... right._' "Put a sock in it, Matau." He got up with a chuckle, and looked at what he had headbutted. It was a section of one of the Sentinel manufacturing devices, having been moved to a spot right next to him, aligned at the perfect angle to intercept with his helmet's path. "And I trust that this was your doing?"

A grin came over his face. "Yep! Just a practical joke!"

"You do realize that if I didn't have my helmet on, this would have done significant damage to my skull, leading to either severe brain damage, or even death, right?"

That took the grin away quickly. "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't kno-"

"Eh, if I focused on what could have been, there would be a far greater amount of times that I would have not been around. Like, well, literally every encounter with a Kig-Yar sniper."

"Kig-yaar?"

"Shit. That's..."

"Classified?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Where is everybody?"

"Outside. Here, I'll give you a boost-lift."

"What happened to the door?"

"It's shut-jammed closed."

"Let me check."

The Spartan picked up his BR-85 and walked with the Toa of Air walked to the hatch. The SIV pulled up the interface device's shield, touching a single button on it, and linking with the Sentinel factory's control system. Next to him, Matau asked, "So, what is that thing?"

"Interface device. Most of the details behind it are-"

"Classified? Is there anything about you that isn't deep-classified?"

The interface device suddenly shrunk down, and the foreigner stood straight, arms to the side. "LIEUTENANT MATT CLARKE, SPARTAN-I-V-THREE-ONE-ONE! FIRETEAM APEX LEAD! UNSC INFINITY!" He sharply saluted the wall- and the door immediately opened. "That enough for you?" He stepped outside.

Matau blinked, then followed.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

-  
**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
FORMER BATTLEGROUND DESIGNATE 'TITANOMACHY'**

Rahaga Norik was surprised. To hear Onewa tell of the stranger, he was expecting something large, ferocious, not unlike a Rahi that would be found in the sub-levels of the Archives. Instead, what was walking in his direction was something more like a Toa- in fact, it - he - looked almost exactly like a Toa. The only thing different was the face beneath his mask- which had apparently been shattered, according to Vakama. What was even more ridiculous was that the stranger was capable of using a Kanohi while wearing it backwards. The current theory was that he was from one of the Southern Islands- some place called Urna.

He approached the stranger, which lifted the odd tool it was carrying, and snapped it onto his back.

"Hello. You can understand us?"

"Aye. All thanks to the wonders of Forerunner translation equipment- and this... Rau?"

"Hmm. You come from a land far south from here?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. There's more than four directions to consider when it comes to plotting out where I come from."

Norik's eyes narrowed. "Are you from Karzahni?"

"No, I am not from Hell."

Norik's reply was interrupted by a plume of dust emerging from the spider spire- one of the sealed-up holes near the top of the structure was blasted outwards, and a few Boggarak scrambled out of the hole. The Toa prepared to fire off a salvo of Rhotuka to cover the six Rahaga's escape, expecting more spiders to emerge- and beams of high-intensity energy followed the fleeing Visorak, focusing on each spider at a time and flash-frying their organic parts inside their armor. Not a single Visorak made it off the structure alive.

A message popped up on the interface device. "SPIDERS IN STRUCTURE DESIGNATE SPIDER SPIRE ELIMINATED. REQUEST PERMISSION TO MOVE OUT." A simple tap on one of the icons confirmed the request. A small cloud of Sentinels- far, far less than there had been when the ice and stone coverings had been applied- flowed out of the spire, moving to the northwest.

"Well, according to the Sentinels, all the Visorak in that structure over there are dealt with. You can move in and take possession of it at any point."

Both the Toa and the Rahaga looked at the Spartan, a mixture of incredulous disbelief and a slight bit of fear - in the case of the Rahaga - in their eyes. "Thanks. I guess. We could have just waited for them to turn on each other, though."

-  
The next three hours consisted of cleaning out the spider spire, getting rid of as many webs as possible- and carrying the scorched bodies of the Visorak out. They had already started to stink. "You know, Whenua, I wish my helmet's visor was still intact- that way I wouldn't have to deal with this stench!"

The Toa of Earth chuckled. "And what about the rest of us?"

"True, true... I don't think there would be enough air fresheners on _Infinity_ to get rid of this smell! And before you ask, information on _Infinity_ is classified."

"Of course it is. You know, you leave a lot of vague hints."

"You know how it is with classified projects- there's black ink everywhere!"

The next Visorak that they saw was a Suukorak.

"You think it's dead?"

"Dunno. Can't tell from this distance."

"I don't want to approach it if it isn't."

"Neither do I. Can you hit it with your spinner?"

"Do you want me to bring the building down?"

"...No."

"Then no."

"I don't want to shoot it if I don't have to."

"You don't want to kill it if it's not dead?"

"That's not the problem- the problem is shooting it if it is dead, in which case I just wasted valuable ammunition on a corpse."

"So... what do we do?"

"Here. Cover me," Clarke said, handing the BR85 to Whenua, who tried to hold it like he had seen the Lieutenant do- and having difficulty due to the integrated 'Thumper' on his right arm. "I'll get close to it and poke it. If it's dead, then I'll just have taken a precaution. If it's not dead, well... it soon will be. Just try not to shoot me or bring down the roof on us, okay?"

The Spartan extended his shield, and slowly advanced towards the Visorak. It didn't move. Clarke shifted to the left, approaching from the Suukorak's three-o'clock position. Once he was within range, he pulled back his arm, pressed a button- the shield shifted, changing shape- and the hard-light warhammer was brought straight down on the creature's head. There was a thick 'crunch'- and no other movement.

"Phew. Guess it was dead after all!" The interface device's weapon faded away, and he walked towards Whenua. "I'll take my rifle back now, please." The Toa of Earth handed over the battle rifle, to which the Lieutenant took it and pointed the barrel at the ground.

"To the next room, huh?" 'And the next, and the next, and on and on, until the spire is cleared.' "I'll take point."

"I just don't trust him, that's all!"

Nuju sighed. "He's had plenty of times where he could have betrayed us, sold us out to the Visorak, or just simply killed one of us. Either he is the most patient Piraka ever, or you're just trying to alienate him."

"Exactly- he's an alien! He's not Toa, he's not Matoran, he's nothing like we've seen before! Who knows how his mind works?"

"Would you stop that? Please? So far, he has only acted in self-defense- and you were asking to get hit when you made that remark about his friend."

"Yeah, well, if you wake up dead one day, don't say I didn't warn you."

"I would not be able to."

"...Ko-Matoran have no sense of humor."

-  
**  
METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

-  
**TWO HOURS LATER**

Finally, the spire was cleared. Clarke watched as each of the Toa placed their tools on the carved entrance of the newly christened 'Tower of Toa', standing a respectful distance away from the newest member of the group- an individual that had the features of the various Toa, albeit less animalistic. '_He? She? It?_' hadn't responded to anything the Lieutenant had said, and only turned it's head to fix him with a stare far outstripping Nokama's 'don't even bother' look when he started to approach. He had backed away after that, and it had looked back towards the gateway as Onewa was carving it.

Now, they both witnessed a decent sized piece of rubble being lifted up and thrown at the gateway- and an enormous discharge of energy completely obliterating the chunk as it crossed the threshold. Clarke let out a whistle. "That is truly some firepower. But how do we get in?"

Norik looked at him. "The Toa can enter and leave as they wish- the structure's elemental energy is keyed into them. Us Rahaga can also move in and out of the Tower of Toa at will. But with you... I wouldn't risk it. You have no elemental energy- and are not a local inhabitant, either. The structure may see you as an enemy, and take action."

"Great. So I'm locked out of the F-O-B at the other end of the city. Well, just so you know, Wingbase will accept you as a friendly contact- all of you. You may come and go as you wish, but please, stick to the general entrance chambers while you're there. I'll set up a meeting room and barracks in one of those rooms- just so that way when you're in the area, you can have a place to stay."

Vakama stepped forward. "We apologize, but we would rather have a thorough defense, rather than one that the Visorak could possibly sneak through."

Clarke shook his head. "I understand fully. As I said, Wingbase will be open to all of you. Even Grumpy."

Both Onewa and the newcomer gave him a glare. '_Odd. The new warrior's glare is a perfect match for Onewa's._' Clarke filed that little detail for later contemplation, before walking off down the street, and climbing into the M12G1 Warthog that he had found in the wreckage of one of the buildings- next to a disabled Enforcer Sentinel. He had powered it back up and sent it on it's way, and flipped the Gauss-hog over.

Now he slid into the driver's seat, and reached down to flip the activation switch. A voice came from beside him, outside of the vehicle. "Where are you going?"

"Back to Wingbase. You have everything locked down here, and I need to start working on setting my own operations post up. Get everything nice and tidy for when you fellows come over."

An odd look crept over Vakama's face. "Across the city? By yourself?"

"I'm not about to ask you - or anybody - to split off from the main group because of me. I'm not Palmer."

"You will not get far." Norik had walked up next to the Toa of Fire- and again, Clarke cursed his lack of a motion tracker. "Even with the Visorak temporarily defeated, they are still quite numerous. And this vehicle of yours isn't exactly quiet- you will attract attention."

"So I'll be luring them away from your position."

"As Vakama said, your base is on the opposite side of Metru Nui- and the city has taken extensive damage from the cataclysm that has struck it. The chute system is offline over the majority of the city, and the streets will be congested with debris."

The Lieutenant paused, considering the information. Vakama leaned back, and queried, "What path will you be taking, anyway?"

Clarke motioned for them to stand clear, and slid out of the 'Hog, extending the ID's shield. He selected an image of Metru Nui, and proceeded to draw a line showing direction of travel.

Norik's jaw dropped when the line went through the Coliseum on it's way to Ga-Metru. "You have no idea what is in the Coliseum, do you?"

"No. Don't say it's another one of those unkillable monster scorpion bastards."

"Just as worse. The Visorak horde has claimed the Coliseum for themselves. You would be driving right into the Muaka's den."

"Well, how about this?" The next line went up through Ta-Metru, to Ga-Metru.

"Shorter, but still dangerous. The Visorak would be busy rebuilding their fortresses that were destroyed by the Tahtorak as it approached Le-Metru- and would be alerted to your presence due to your vehicle's noise."

"Well, their attention would be split between re-fortifying that area and pursuing me-"

"They have more than enough numbers to do both at the same time. I have seen populations of entire islands captured by the Visorak, warrior. They chose to fight, unprepared, against an enemy with boundless numbers, rather than wait until they had sufficient skills in order to not-so-easily fall beneath the spiders' mandibles."

'_And I've seen two entire planets burned to glass because their populations were deemed a heretical abomination by the Covenant._' Clarke irritably thought to himself, but kept his feelings hidden. "How about this? The Le-Metru tower is secured, and their hold has been disrupted in this district. How about we go for a redux in Ta-Metru? I drive past, attract as many of the spiders to my position as possible. The rest of you come down like a container of gravhammers on the Visorak command posts, and seal them up like you did with this one. I lead the spiders on a merry chase, all the way to Wingbase where they're shot up by it's defenses, and you hit the spider spires that I drive past. We clear a corridor between the Tower of Toa and Wingbase, and fortify the absolute shit out of it." Additional lines were drawn on the shield's image to symbolize the safety corridor.

By this point, Onewa had walked up- and overheard the last part of the conversation. "You're crazy. Crazier than Matau. I'm not risking myself for that plan- and neither will my brothers or sister."

"Just a suggestion. I know you don't like me for some reason-"

"What clued you in?"

"-but please try to tone down the hostility a bit, if you don't mind?"

Onewa just huffed. "If you think this is hostility-"

"Onewa! Stop. Don't let your Hordika side gain control. You are a Toa, not a beast!" This was the first time Norik had actually raised his voice- it was surprising for such a small individual. He looked back at the Spartan. "Apologies. But Onewa is right- what you are planning is not without risks."

"Better we strike now, rather than after they dig in. Once again, it's just a suggestion. I do have to get back to Wingbase- I need more ammunition."

"Hmm. If you are committed to this course of action... then we may have our own plan. Vakama, Onewa, would you please get the rest of the Toa to come here?"

As the Toa of Fire and of Stone walked towards the Tower in order to get the others' attention, Norik continued talking to the Lieutenant. "Onewa does not trust you. True trust is not easily earned. However, given how you say you are isolated from your people, have shown that you are not a spy for the Horde, and indeed kept the details of your own secrets hidden, rather than simply spilling them in full at the first chance you have, is why I am allowing you to learn about this. You may sit in on this meeting- but please, try to keep any comments to a minimum."

"Of course. I trust we will be having this meeting in the Sentinel factory?"

"...Yes."


	13. The Search (1)

**CHAPTER 13  
THE SEARCH (1)**

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

-

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
TOWER OF TOA APPROACH - FORMER SENTINEL CONSTRUCTION FACILITY**

Norik led the Toa and the Spartan into the former manufacturing craft. Constructor Sentinels were active on both the inside and outside, slowly sealing up all the holes and deployment tubes- preparing it to be a bunker, rather than a flying construction facility. Materials were being taken from the more damaged section and used to create rooms inside. One of the Constructor Sentinels nearly hit Nuju in the face, detecting the Hordika mere seconds before collision and veering off to the side.

The Toa moved into the circle formation that they had sat down in over the course of the last night, with Norik in the center- and Clarke far outside it, sitting down with his back to a pillar.

As expected, Onewa made his opinion clear. "Why is the foreigner here? This only concerns us!"

"Toa Onewa! This individual has made it clear, many times over, that he wishes to help us defeat the Visorak and rescue the Matoran. He is not the Karzahni-dweller that you imply he is."

Under his breath, Clarke muttered to himself, "Yeah, he definitely doesn't like me."

Norik started the briefing. "Throughout the city, we have hidden six pieces of an object known as the Makoki Stone. The pieces unlock access to a legendary Mask of Power that we hid here to keep it safe from the Visorak horde and it's leaders. Their locations are still a secret for now, but with the Visorak tightening their grip on the city, that may change at any point. The Visorak cannot be allowed to gain control of the Mask. Therefore, I am tasking the seven of you with the recovery of the Makoki Stone, and of the Mask of Light." The Rahaga began to pace. "Once you have the Mask, bring it back to the Tower of Toa, where it can be kept in safekeeping from the Visorak horde.

You will be going for the Le-Metru piece first- it is close by, in an abandoned airship hangar. Iruini has checked there already for airships or parts- there are none in any sort of workable condition. However, he could not get close enough to the Makoki Stone piece to recover it. After the recorery of the Le-Metru stone, you will split into two groups. Group one, composed of Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua, will take the western side of the city- Ko-Metru, Onu-Metru, and Po-Metru. Group two - Matau, Nokama, Vakama, and Lieutenant Clarke - will go for Ta-Metru and Ga-Metru. In the end, both groups will meet at the Great Temple in Ga-Metru. From there, you will know what to do."

"If I may interject, Norik?"

The Rahaga turned to the Spartan with an irritated look on his face. "Go ahead."

"I would like to make a small adjustment to your plan. Before we head to the Great Temple, I ask that we make a small pit-stop at Wingbase, so that way I could resupply and get a vehicle better suited to this particular mission."

"That would be... acceptable. Anything else you would like to say?"

"Just that we should each be given a map indicating where each point is. I have datapads here that we could use- I've uploaded maps of the city to them. All you have to do is just point them out on the maps, and they'll be locked in."

"I have tablets here that do the same."

"Just saying. The datapads are more easily stored, though."

"Group one can take the tablets. Group two- as they'll be going with you- will have the datapads. Acceptable compromise?"

"Of course."

-

**PO-METRU DISTRICT**

The Kikanalo herd slowly walked across the plains, trying to find some sort of brush to eat. After the darkness had set in, the plants had started to wither. The Visorak did not make their lives any easier, catching and webbing up the ones that were too slow to move, and changing them into something... else. Already they had had run-ins with the mutated versions- and unlike the herbivorous herd Rahi, the Changed devoured everything that they could. It was like they had some sort of hunger, devouring them from within.

The herd stopped. They had found a few patches of plants. Without a noise, they dipped their heads, and started to eat.

There was a sudden trembling in the ground beneath- and then it subsided. The leader looked up, and to the sides. There was nothing new- no Visorak patrol, no Changed incoming... just his herd, which were also startled. The Kikanalo started to nibble on the grass again- and once again, a small seismic event. This happened three more times before the herd leader noticed something- his group was getting smaller every time. He snorted a warning, which made several of the old-ones stop eating and look around. Nothing happened.

The leader had just begun to relax, when the ground opened up beneath half of the herd, and they plunged into writhing darkness. The stampede began immediately after that- and the darkness flowed out of the hole, over the ones too slow to react, dragging them below the surface. One of the Kikanalo separated in mid-air, and it's horn plunged into the ground- it's head having been broken into multiple pieces before disappearing.

Only the herd leader and a few of the young-ones survived- a second hole had appeared in front of the stampede, and the rest of the Kikanalo had charged right into it. Once again, darkness rose out of the hole, leaving nothing behind. They began their trek towards the city core, moving softly across the ground, trying to avoid alerting the creatures beneath. The risk of capture by Visorak was more appealing than being devoured alive.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

-

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
25 MINUTES AFTER MEETING**

A Roporak approached a Suukorak. The two spiders were chittering to themselves- probably asking as to what happened to the patrol they sent out to investigate the long growling noise that they had heard.  
They had no idea what was about to befall them.

Five hundred meters away, a long tube poked out of the ground-floor window of a partially-collapsed building. It's operator was currently staring at the yellow scope mounted on it's left side, using it's built-in target acquisition tech to spot the various Visorak that were milling around the target building. The weapon's coils were tuned to one-fifth of their maximum power, so as to prevent over-penetration- none of the individuals in Group Two knew exactly where in the building the stone fragment was.

The operator typed out a message on the datapad next to him. "Matau, are you in position?"

A response was immediate. "Yes".

"Vakama? Nokama?"

Two more 'Yes' responses came through.

"Thunder starts in five seconds after receiving message. Get ready." He sent it, then looked into the targeting computer again.

Six seconds later- the targeted Visorak had started to move- a white bolt streaked across the gap between the end of the cannon and the target building. The Suukorak at the other end never knew what hit it- it was lights-out instantaneously, as the projectile penetrated it's 'head' and bore straight through. The white spider dropped from the webs surrounding the building.

The Gauss cannon immediately cycled around, snapping another kinetic impactor into place. The operator took aim at another target, and pulled the trigger. The suddenly retreating Roporak dropped like a stone. Through the scope, he could see the Rhotuka of the Toa of Fire and Water keeping the Visorak suppressed, as the pseudo-discernible blur that was Matau ran inside. Once again, he wished he had a visor- and that the members of his impromptu fireteam would have IFF generators. That way he could see where everybody was...

It didn't take long for the Visorak to start retreating inside. '_Damn it! I was afraid this would happen!_' Clarke thought to himself, before grabbing the Warthog's roll-cage and sliding himself down into the driver's seat. Flipping the vehicle fully on, he put it in gear and drove out of hiding, heading for the building.

-

On the other side of the building, Group One were having their own problems. They were supposed to infiltrate the building as well, when the Visorak began to shift towards the other side, and provide an internal distraction for Matau to recover the Makoki fragment. What nobody expected was for a Kahgarak to show up, leading three patrols. And then the Vahki popped up as well, opening fire with their lethal staffs on the Visorak. They had to abandon their cover when the Kahgarak had missed with one of it's spinners and had hit it, only just barely getting out in time before the collapsed structure just disappeared.

Onewa had joked that perhaps it had landed on the foreigner's friend. Both Nuju and Whenua ignored that comment.

The battle between the Visorak and Vahki only had one conclusion- the Visorak were going to win. They just had sheer weight of numbers on their side. And after that... the spiders would turn their full focus on them. Group One took this time to knock out as many Visorak as possible- the less that were able to fight against them, the better.

Two minutes later, two white beams shot into the air, each one spaced five seconds apart. Matau had gotten his part of the stone, and the foreigner had fired off the pre-planned signal for 'mission accomplished, retreat'. Onewa grinned- the waste of 'ammunition' probably irritated the warrior. Group One quickly moved away, heading for Ko-Metru.

-

Matau came out of the building at a full sprint. Vakama had already got on the cannon on the back of the vehicle, and Nokama was in the passenger seat. That left only one spot for the Toa of Air... he sighed, closed the gap quickly, and jumped onto the middle of the 'hog', crouching low and grabbing onto the vehicle's roll-cage.

"Hang on!" The SIV shouted, and jabbed forward with his foot. The 'Hog growled loudly and took off down the street, heading for Ta-Metru.

Two Visorak patrols initiated pursuit.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
32 MINUTES AFTER ENGAGEMENT IN LE-METRU**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

-  
**METRU NUI- KO-METRU DISTRICT  
48 MINUTES AFTER ENGAGEMENT IN LE-METRU**

"How do you know which floor the stone is on?" Whenua asked, as the three Toa scaled the steps inside the Knowledge Tower that had been marked on the map.

"I don't. However, I can make an educated guess that it would be close to the top. The Visorak would have searched the bottom floors first, and made their way up," the Toa of Ice replied.

The group finally got to a floor that showed no signs of Visorak contamination- no webs, no cocoons, nothing. They began to open the various doorways, always expecting a trap to be set on the opposite side- but every time, there was nothing. Nuju opened the final door- which had been sealed with a combination lock- and called the rest of the team over. They finally had the Ko-Metru piece of Makoki Stone- but the second they picked it up, they heard the sound of Visorak chittering.

"That's not good..." Whenua stated, and they started to run for the stairs- only for the ugly face of a Kahgarak to loom in the stairwell. "How did-"

Whenua never finished his question, as he was forced to duck as the spinner flew across the room, and hit the opposite wall. A four-bio circular hole appeared in it, as everything in the radius had been sent to the Field of Darkness. Nuju fired off an ice spinner, preventing the Kahgarak from pursuing them- but as the ice wall formed, Onewa noticed something about the elite Visorak.  
It had a burn from a Vahki staff straight across it's 'head'- it was the same one from the Le-Metru airship storage facility. And it had followed them.

"Onewa, come on!" Nuju yelled from the edge of the hole, opening out into a viewing platform on the outside of the crystalline tower. The Toa of Stone jumped through the hole, as more Visorak started coming into the room from the other staircase on the opposite side of the floor. "Great. Now where, astrologer?" Onewa growled in a mocking tone.

"There is an airship loading dock beneath us! We can climb down to it- and continue going down that way!"

"If we were still Toa, we would be equipped for it! But now? Only you are! What are Whenua and I going to do?"

Three Visorak - a Keelerak and two Vohtarak - jumped through the hole, one of which landed next to Whenua and snapped at him with it's mandibles. The other two spiders lacked the ability to stop on command, slid across the viewing platform, and off the edge. The Toa of Earth reacted solely by Hordika instinct, swinging his Thumper down on the green Visorak and triggering it. The jackhammer proceeded to mulch it's way through the Keelerak's eye and into it's 'brain', killing it. The spider was cut off in mid-screech. Nuju sealed the hole with another ice spinner- though he knew that that wouldn't hold the rest of the Visorak at bay for long.

Nuju and Whenua looked at each other, then at the dead Visorak. "I have an idea." The two said simultaneously.

**METRU NUI - TA-METRU DISTRICT  
TWO KILOMETERS FROM MAKOKI STONE LOCATION**

"Shit!" Clarke jerked the wheel hard to avoid yet another Rhotuka salvo from the eighth spider spire he had seen upon entering Ta-Metru. Vakama had long since abandoned going for incapacitation shots- almost every single spider in the district was apparently bearing down on them, and simply shooting off pieces of their legs did not stop them from firing off their energy weapons. Norik had been right about the noise from the Warthog's engine- it attracted the bastards like moths to a flame.

The hard-light cowcatcher had taken damage from a glancing Keelerak Rhotuka, and the hood of the 'Hog was completely melted due to the energy spinner. The acid hadn't damaged the engine, thankfully. "Nokama! How close are we?"

The Toa of Water did not reply right away- she was standing up, firing off her own water spinner at the Visorak. That was the problem- there was too much incoming fire, and not enough weapons to put suppressive fire on. And if they passed it... well, he wasn't about to circle back around and go for another try. "Nokama, how close are we to the stone fragment?" Still no damn answer. He risked a glance up and to the right. Given how she was gripping the roll cage, she was entirely focused on the battle at hand.  
So much for his navigator.

As his eyes focused back on the road, he checked the datapad itself. And cursed. They were coming up fast. And with Nokama deep within the clutches of target fixation, he had no way to tell the Toa riding in the gunner section about where to get off.

Only Matau was paying attention- more or less because he was wedged in between the Gauss cannon mount, the Toa of Fire currently using said electromagnetic accelerator, and the rear of the roll cage. While uncomfortable, it was far better than the alternative. Plus, this way he could actually see where they were going. The Toa of Air overheard the Lieutenant calling for Nokama, asking about how close they were to the stone's location.

Beside him, Nokama finally got back into her seat, as the Warthog finally gained distance from the pursuing horde. He wondered why the spiders had pulled off their pursuit... and then something loomed up ahead.  
The last remaining mobile Sentinel factory.  
It's outside was heavily scarred by Rhotuka impacts. Half of the structure was dark, and a mound of dust lay at the foot of a gaping hole in it's side. Sentinels still patrolled around, but their numbers were few. And less than two hundred meters away... the location of the fragment.

The building that it was in had definitely seen better days. Both Sentinel Beam burns and Rhotuka impact marks could be seen throughout it. Vakama stayed on the cannon until the 'Hog came to a stop outside the structure, after which he turned towards the Lieutenant. "Why are we stopping?" he growled ferociously, the fire of war still burning deep within him.

"Because we're here. This is the building. Better make it quick- it's only a matter of time before the Visorak reach a critical mass of numbers and charge on in. And the Sentinels won't be able to hold them off this time- that factory's had it."

Matau was off the 'Hog almost instantly, and had run inside the building. Vakama was just climbing off of the vehicle when there was a screech from the other side of the Sentinel factory. The Visorak had launched their attack.

More spiders flooded in from the other two sides, and were immediately countered by the Sentinels. A third party seemed to join the fight as well- other robotic constructs, which targeted Sentinel and Visorak alike.  
Unknown to the three Toa and the Spartan, Aeona's final command left the Sentinels unable to alter their targeting parameters, and so they were unable to register the Vahki as hostile contacts- allowing the new arrivals to attack without fear of retribution.

"The hell are those?"

"Vahki! They used to be law enforcement for the city, but the Great Cataclysm changed them. Made them more aggressive."

An Enforcer was taken down by three consecutive blasts from two of the local automatons, the Forerunner construct breaking apart into it's individual components. "Vakama! Get off the gun, help Matau find the rock!"

The Toa of Fire leaned in close. "You do not give me orders on how to run my team." the Toa snarled out, baring his teeth.

"The sooner we get the damn stone, the sooner we can bug out of here before we get overrun!"

Vakama brought his face even closer, a guttural growl building up in his chest, his eyes having no trace of subtlety in them- it was all barely constrained menace. In response, Clarke's fight-or-flight response clicked in, and he himself began an instinctual threat display, showing that he wasn't going to back down. His right hand dropped to his knee, where his sidearm would normally be located- and found nothing. Nokama sighed loudly, and got ready to act as the team's mediator yet again. '_One of these days, I'm just not going to get involved,_' she thought to herself. '_I'm going to let them fight it out, and hope that fixes the problem._' The Toa side- the civilized side- disagreed with that assessment.

Before Nokama could say anything, however, Matau came sprinting out of the structure that had formerly housed the stone fragment. He vaulted onto the roll cage, slipping down into the spot he had occupied on the ride there. "Got it! Almost-nearly melted in molten protodermis, though." The Toa of Air turned to glare at the Toa of Fire. "Where were you, Vakama? I thought you were going to help-assist!" Vakama's answering snarl was drowned out by the roar of the Warthog as it lunged forward. Already, the Visorak had taken their side of the Sentinel factory, which was slowly powering down, unable to produce Sentinels faster than the Visorak could overwhelm them. The Vahki went down fighting, but the numbers of the spiders were too much to deal with.

Clarke swung down one of the few streets that weren't choked with spiders. The Visorak did not bother to pursue.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
48 MINUTES AFTER ENGAGEMENT IN LE-METRU**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

-

**METRU NUI - KO-METRU DISTRICT  
KNOWLEDGE TOWER  
SAME TIME FRAME AS TA-METRU OPERATION**

The three Toa Hordika were in the middle of their descent when the ice covering the hole melted away and the Visorak started coming through. Nuju was making the best time- he was in his element, after all. Onewa and Whenua, on the other hand, were clinging on to their own pairs of Keelerak claws, the sharp ends digging into the crystalline structure of the tower and allowing them to climb down. A Roporak tried to climb onto the wall, but was unable to find purchase- and plummeted past the Toa, screeching all the way. With the Visorak unable to bring their Rhotuka to bear on the retreating Toa, they were able to make the descent without too much trouble, and quickly made it to the airship landing pad- and from there, back inside the Tower.

Taking the stairs two at a time, they reached the ground floor and ran out into the street- right into a battle between Frost Beetles and what was most likely a Visorak ambush force. The Beetles were winning, though not by much- just like back at the airship factory in Le-Metru, the Visorak's own weight of numbers commanded a significant advantage over the melee-oriented insects.

Neither of the two sides cared to acknowledge the Toa, though- and Group One vanished into the mist surrounding the base of the Knowledge Towers.

They did not go completely unnoticed, however. Fifteen Sentinels followed high above, tracking their movement.

-

**PO-METRU DISTRICT**

The thanolekgolo were hungry. The herd creatures that roamed the land no longer came to their area.  
They had found small settlements- which had then disappeared beneath the ground, and into the maws of thousands of worms. There were no inhabitants to consume- no morsels to devour. The cave system where the Change took place had been rent down, and the Call ended. There was another Call, far to the south- almost barely scraping the edges of whatever compound mind the colony had. A third Call came from much closer, but the thanolekgolo would not acknowledge either.

The colony started to expand their hunting territory. One hunter tendril detected several large herd creatures moving into a canyon, trying to lose the pursuit of four-legged insectoid creatures. Multiple tendrils converged on the location, burrowing out from under the ground and covering the insects- and then falling on the herd creatures as well.  
The canyon echoed with terrified bellows and screeches- then faded away to whispers.

In the chaos of the feast, one of the tendrils had uncovered an entrance to a cave. After the animals had been consumed, a tendril had been sent down the tunnel, in search of more food. The rest had busied themselves with devouring the broken remnants of mechanical beings scattered throughout the canyon.

The thanolekgolo were hungry. They had to feed.

**METRU NUI - ONU-METRU ARCHIVES  
18 MINUTES AFTER ESCAPE FROM KNOWLEDGE TOWER**

Whenua lowered his voice. "We're being followed."

"You just noticed?" Onewa replied sardonically.

Nuju blinked at Onewa, then looked at the Toa of Earth. "It's not Visorak, if that is any consolation."

"Vahki?"

Nuju shook his head. "No footsteps. It's those flying Rahi that the 'Lieutenant', as he calls himself, uses."

"Why are they here?"

"Maybe the foreigner sent them here to kill us, while he is with the others. Divide and conquer."

"Oh please. You do realize that he could have simply withheld that Regeneration Kanoka from you? None of us would have known that he had one on him unless we went through his pack."

"Isn't it a coincidence that my arm was broken in a way that could be fixed with a low-power Regeneration disk? Almost as if it were planned..."

Whenua sighed. "We get it, Onewa. You don't like him. But he's saved us- and we've saved him- multiple times already. If he were planning to betray us, he could have just left us to be captured by the Visorak in that Ga-Metru school. Or eaten by the Zivon."

Nuju chipped in. "Or overrun by the Visorak."

And then they heard the sound of something - multiple somethings - coming down the nearest ground-side access shaft. Large, and sounding not unlike...

"And here comes the Visorak."

Shortly after that, the sound of multiple metal Rahi laser weapons echoed through the tunnel, as did the screeching of the spider Rahi. The three Toa moved away from the sounds of battle, trying to keep the noise of their passage to a minimum.

Five Sentinels followed.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
1 HOUR 18 MINUTES AFTER ENGAGEMENT IN LE-METRU**

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

"This is Staff Sergeant Nathan Altfield, serial number 314-2108-7191-NA, pilot of GA-TL1 Longsword designate Delta-One-One. Co-pilot is Daimia Blake, current status unconscious. We're currently without main power, running on emergency."

"Identification accepted. Initiating response."

SPARTAN-IV-311 IS IN ISLAND-CITY PROPER AS OF LAST SITUATION UPDATE  
ASSIST LOCAL WARRIOR FORCES DESIGNATE 'TOA' - SPARTAN-IV-311 HAS SECURED AN ALLIANCE WITH THEM - DO NOT ATTACK OR OTHERWISE HARM THEM  
ASSIST LOCAL VIP FORCES DESIGNATE 'RAHAGA' - SPARTAN-IV-311 HAS SECURED AN ALLIANCE WITH THEM - DO NOT ATTACK OR OTHERWISE HARM THEM

KILL EVERY LAST GODDAMN SPIDER IN THIS CITY

Accompanying the message was a map of the island-city, with a blue dot indicating where the UNSC operations post had been set up.

SSgt. Altfield flipped the communications panel off, got up from his chair, and walked to the back of the craft. Time to work on getting main power back online.

-

**PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CANYON OF UNENDING WHISPERS CAVE COMPLEX**

Turaga Dume awoke with a start. The last thing he remembered was traveling up to his chamber, wary of someone- or something- following him. His Vahki escorts had then turned on him, declaring him to be a lawbreaker. And then... darkness.

Now he found himself sitting down inside a metal ball, half of it just... gone. The edges of the hole were pitted with individual dips, almost as if something had taken it apart by putting a small drill through it, over and over again. He reached up and ran his hand over the edge- and felt something disturbing. Each one of the smaller dips had it's own divots in it, almost like-  
Teeth.


	14. The Search (2)

**CHAPTER 14  
THE SEARCH (2)**

**METRU NUI - TA-METRU - GA-METRU LAND CROSSING - TA-METRU SIDE  
35 MINUTES AFTER RECOVERY OF TA-METRU MAKOKI STONE  
**  
"That's the bridge?"

The 'bridge' in question was a collection of debris assembled in a semi-straight line, held together with Visorak webbing. "I didn't even see this when I was flying above it with the Pelican! Look at it! One good storm and this will be washed out to sea! I can't drive the 'Hog over this!"

Vakama was the first one off, followed by Matau. "Then we'll walk from here." Nokama was also disembarking as well. The sound of Visorak screeches echoed close behind them- the Sentinel factory had evidently fallen to the spiders. Clarke got halfway out of the Warthog, then stopped. "Wait up one moment!" Vakama was already starting to run across, but Matau and Nokama stopped, and turned to face him. "I'm going to need some assistance before we cross."

-

**SEVEN MINUTES LATER**

The M12 LAV sat empty on the bridge, seemingly stuck, positioned sideways- almost as if it were a barrier preventing passage.

The Visorak barely stopped moving as they poured out from multiple streets, converging on the bridge. There was no counterattack from anything, no beams of white fire that cut through them. The last of the metal Rahi had been dealt with. In the distance, four beings were sighted on the crossing, in a near flat-out sprint. The Visorak needed no other obligation to pursue, and began flowing across the bridge, smashing into the vehicle that was pathetically blocking their path- and pulling the trip-wire that was connected to the grenade placed on top of forty pounds of 102mm rockets located beneath the Warthog. The 'Hog was near-instantly obliterated- and so was every Visorak within five meters of the explosion. The bridge didn't fair much better, either, as the webbing holding up that section snapped, allowing the rubble to slide into the water beneath.

The SIV was definitely impressed at this point. Vakama didn't even seem to notice the Gauss cannon he had slung over his shoulder- as if it were no big weight. Clarke himself was carrying the ammunition - and power cables - needed for said big gun- and while they were barely slowing him down, their combined weight was nothing compared to the electromagnetic coil-gun itself. Matau was the biggest surprise- the Spartan had expected a Toa of 'Air' to be a lightweight- instead he was lugging around the power source for the Gauss cannon with about the same amount of ease as Vakama was with the weapon itself.

As they got within fifty meters of the other side, they felt the bridge start to lose consistency beneath them, as the webbing holding it began to come loose. Nokama was the first one across, her not being burdened with anything - then Matau and Vakama. The webbing separated completely, and the Spartan felt himself starting to sink- he triggered his jetpack, giving him a good degree of height above the surface of the water as the rubble sank to the bottom. The jetpack couldn't hold him up forever, the added weight of the M68 ammunition bringing him down... and then an air-spinner hit the water beneath him, giving him an extra burst of height.

It took two more air-spinners for Clarke to make it safely over land and come down. By that point, the blue spiders- Boggarak- had begun to swim across. "Thanks, Matau. Would've sank like a stone if you hadn't done that."

The Toa of Air's response was cut off by Vakama. "Spartan. I would say it is time to run, not stand around and talk."

With that, Group Two sprinted away from the now destroyed crossing, and into Ga-Metru proper.

-

**METRU NUI - ONU-METRU DISTRICT  
35 MINUTES AFTER ESCAPE FROM KNOWLEDGE TOWER**

Group One had reached a storage hall- and at the far end, a vault had been opened up. There were Visorak patrols present, though most of them had charged off in pursuit of a two-headed Tarakava- one of the exhibits in the Archives that had been set free by the massive bioquake triggered by the Great Cataclysm. Whenua hoped the creature would escape- but had the suspicion that the Visorak would prove too much for it. Yet another Rahi that would fall to the scourge.

The group moved quickly throughout the chamber, evading the majority of the spiders that had remained. They were almost to the hole when something emerged from it- a familiar Kahgarak, now blinded on one side. Due to it's blind spot, the Toa were able to get back into cover before it could notice them.

Four of the strange foreign constructs - this time equipped with golden armor - barreled into the storage hall, catching the nearest Visorak off-guard before cutting it apart with harsh blue light. A Vohtarak managed to fire off a spinner, impacting one of the Sentinels- and instead of being destroyed as expected, a shimmering blue energy field intercepted the spinner, protecting the Sentinel underneath. The Vohtarak wasn't so lucky.

The Kahgarak shifted it's attention to the quartet of Sentinel Majors, walking past the three Hordika. It's Rhotuka launcher charged up with energy and fired- and the Sentinels immediately swept their beams to intercept the blast. With the Visorak otherwise occupied, Group One was able to sneak inside the hole, and into the chamber on the other side. A fifth Sentinel - having entered after the rest of the Forerunner synthetic forces, albeit more stealthily - snuck past the Kahgarak as well, and followed the Toa through the hole.

As it came out on the other side, a club came down- hard- on the Sentinel, damaging it's shield and causing it to collide with the floor, which knocked the energy barrier out completely. It started to twist around, to bring it's weapon to bear on the aggressor. Another impact on it's rear- and ice formed around it, containing it in a stalagmite of frozen liquid.

"There. That's done- are you happy now, Onewa?"

The Toa of Stone only snorted, continuing to watch the fallen Sentinel. Nuju took up position near the door, watching the battle outside- two of the golden constructs had fallen, another one had disappeared, and the final one was zipping around the room, trying to get a clear shot on the Kahgarak. The other Visorak were all dead, cut apart by the Sentinels' weapons.

Whenua had walked to the pedestal in the center of the room, reached forward, and grabbed the stone. There was a click, and the stand dropped down.

A stone hammer descended from the ceiling on an arc that took it straight towards Whenua, who barely managed to duck out of it's way. It hit the opposite wall with a loud 'smack'- and a spiderweb of cracks appeared, water starting to leak from them. Group One started to walk backwards, towards the tunnel that they came from- and the wall gave way. The three Toa Hordika, the Sentinel, and the Kahgarak in the other room were all swept away by the torrent of water that poured through.

-

**UNKNOWN LOCATION  
UNSC GA-TL1 LONGSWORD DELTA-11**

The red emergency lighting clicked off, replaced by the white light of the heavy fighter-bomber's standard interior illumination. Daimia Blake rose up from where she was lying, holding her head in her hands as the brightness stabbed at her eyes. "Wazzup?"

"Main power's back online. We're ready to move- everything's up and running again." Nate said as he walked by, smiling widely.

"Where-goin'?"

"Local UNSC firebase- the wing of a Forerunner dreadnought." Nate sat down in the pilot's chair, pressing a few buttons, then chuckling. "You'll never guess what it's call-"

"Wherer-we?"

"No idea. Just stay lying there- I don't think we're going to need to shoot anything on the way."

"Mmmkay." Cpl. Blake laid her head back down on the cot. "Ya-know, I had the strangest dream..."

The Longsword rose up into the air, it's landing gear retracting into the underside of the craft. It accelerated, heading for the structure that had been designated 'Wingbase'. Two F-41 Broadswords did the same.

Thirty seconds after they had taken off and left, the ground that they once rested on collapsed, and writhing darkness flowed out, looking for the source of energy that had attracted them. The jet-black eels found nothing- and retreated back down. A flash of energy later, and the hole was covered up, as if it had never been there.

-

**METRU NUI - ONU-METRU DISTRICT  
15 MINUTES AFTER RECOVERY OF ONU-METRU STONE FRAGMENT**

The tunnel that Group One and the Kahgarak had been washed down had connected with a pipe. None of the three Toa knew where they were going anymore- other than in the general direction of Po-Metru. They turned a corner, and saw the Kahgarak up ahead right itself, floating on it's belly. It's Rhotuka launcher began to crackle with energy- and then it fell out of sight. It didn't take long for the Toa to clue in as to why that was, and they began to attempt to swim up-current, away from the sudden drop. Nuju fired his Rhotuka spinner, creating a wall of ice which temporarily cut off the water flow- but the water pressure started to crack the ice almost immediately. The frozen Sentinel suddenly bumped up against the wall, cracking it further- and Nuju fired yet another ice spinner to fortify the wall. "That won't hold it for long! Let's get out of here!"

They ran to the edge of the pipe, and looked around. It was evidently part of some ancient chute system, built underneath the ground- but the Great Cataclysm had caused a chasm to open up, creating a gap in the system. Looking up, Nuju could see the sky far above- even if they got out of the chute, they would have quite a long way to climb. '_Better than falling to our death_,' Nuju thought, before firing his ice spinner to mark a spot on the cave wall next to him. "Onewa, Whenua. See if you can't make a bridge. I'll hold it together with ice.

The next fifteen seconds was filled with intensity, as the three Hordika staggered their Rhotuka fire, constantly reinforcing the bridge that they were making. It was no use- the second it reached a certain length, it collapsed into the chasm. The cracking sound from the wall of ice in the pipe didn't help, either. Finally, they got the idea to simply lift themselves out of the chute- one Toa had to act as a stepping platform for the other one, in order to grasp the edge of the damaged section and leverage themselves to the top of the hole.

"I wish we had Matau with us, it would have made this so much easier." Onewa was the last one out- and not a moment to soon- the second he was halfway out of the hole, the ice wall shattered. His feet were almost caught by the subsequent torrent of water, which stretched almost all the way across the chasm before slowly winding down to it's previous flow.

"Now where do we go?"

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
45 MINUTES AFTER CROSSING OVER TO GA-METRU**

Group Two knew that stopping for long periods of time meant that they would be overwhelmed. The local spider garrisons had been alerted as to the presence of the four individuals- and this time, there was no Warthog that could outrace the Visorak to use.

Clarke was almost constantly on his interface device, attempting to connect to Wingbase's systems, but constantly kept getting an 'Out of Range' error. He wished that Aeona were still around- she could have taken control of one of the Hornets and came to get them. Nokama had the Le-Metru and Ta-Metru pieces, along with the datapad. Clarke was sure that the datapad was waterproof, but didn't know the technical specs for certain. It was able to be used in space just fine, and in deserts...

They had to take shelter in buildings often, as Visorak patrols passed by. One of the buildings was the same place where the Spartan had come across his supply of Kanoka- now depleted. Nokama had been disturbed by the revelation of the previous inhabitant of the building- apparently it was one of her friends, a Ga-Matoran by the name of Macku. Vakama had found another shelf with Kanoka on it- nothing above level 5, and nobody had any bags for carrying the disks- though Clarke had taken one, 'just in case'. The Toa of Fire had been able to tell who made the majority of the Kanoka, though- a prospective carver named Tuvan, who had been touring the different Metru, experimenting with the creation of new disks.

Finally, Clarke had a name to go on. "Now I'm definitely locked into helping you rescue the Matoran," he had stated, a grin on his face. "After all, I had said that the individual who made these disks was going to get a lifetime supply of drinks, all on Fireteam Apex's tab."

The Toa had looked at him oddly at that statement. "Drinks are not free where you come from?"

"More or less. And I don't mean just water; I mean the top shelf stuff- if he would even enjoy that. Hope he doesn't, otherwise Apex is going to be hemorrhaging credits- and Samuels isn't going to like that."

After that, they had moved on, pressing as straight as possible towards Wingbase. He had picked up on the distress signal- but after hearing that it was just a pre-recorded message, his heart sank. The Sentinels near Wingbase had been hard-coded to not launch attacks past a certain point. Once they got inside that DMZ, though... the Visorak pursuing them were in for a world of hurt. It wasn't just standard Aggressors and the odd Enforcer out there- there were also Sentinel Majors on the prowl. He hoped that Aeona had added the Toa to the 'Do Not Shoot' list for Wingbase, otherwise this would end badly for everybody involved. Once he got closer to the DMZ, he could check.

They finally got to the stone's location- it was just plain luck that it happened to be on the way to the UNSC base. They had set up the Gauss cannon near the hole that Nokama was to dive down. Once she secured the final stone, Clarke suggested her to go full speed to either Wingbase or the Ga-Metru Great Temple, and lie low until they could regroup. That idea was nixed by Vakama, who got irritated at the Spartan for 'attempting to order his team around'. Nokama had snapped at the both of them, telling them to behave- as if they were naught but miscreants in a classroom. After that, the two of them had stalked away from each other, and the Toa of Water submerged herself.

Now the two were sitting on opposite sides of the mutated Toa of Air. Matau could feel the anger coming off of Vakama, and the passive irritation from the Lieutenant. He sighed- which drew a look from both of them. Vakama's was judgmental, as if interrupting his brooding was some unspeakable crime. For a second, the Spartan's eyes were full of fire- then they let up, the partial irritation disappearing from the gaze. He looked forward again. '_It's not Matau's fault- and it's not Vakama's either. That's what happens when you put two leaders in an equal command role- either they have synergy, or they don't._' He let out a breath. "After this operation, I'll relegate myself to running support roles only. That way there's no real conflict between us, and also that way you don't have to hoof it across the entire city if you want to get somewhere."

Both Matau and Vakama's heads rose in unison, though not in the Spartan's direction. They had heard something. Clicking. "We have been discovered." Clarke moved to be on the right side of Vakama, already grabbing a shell from his pack and loading it into the Gauss cannon's firing chamber. Matau flipped the activation switch- after poking around the generator a bit, trying to find it- and the cannon began to hum with power as the coils charged up. The Spartan took over operation of the weapon from the Toa of Fire.

A Boggarak came into view, crawling over the wall of the building. Nobody breathed- nobody moved. The blue spider looked around, then turned to leave- and Nokama chose this moment to come to the surface with a light splash. That was enough for the Visorak to turn it's attention back, noticing the Hordika in the center of the pool, it's eyes tracking over Matau, then Vakama, and finally-

A brilliant blue-white pulse flew across the span, smashing straight into the Visorak's head crest- and out the other side. The body fell from the wall, landing with a smack in the street outside. "Time to go!" The cords were untied, both cannon and power source were stowed away again, and Nokama came out of the water in full. The group barely ex-filtrated from the open-roof structure before the Visorak arrived in force. It was only a matter of time before the spiders found out where they went.

They were so close to the DMZ- just seven more kilometers. It felt like seven hundred- nigh-on constant evasion was the only way to survive. At one point, Clarke considered using the disk- but didn't know if it would work on a group, nor where it would place them. At every stop inside a building, waiting for a patrol to pass by, the Spartan checked the ID- he at least was able to check the targeting ledgers, and confirmed that the Toa- and the Rahaga- were on Wingbase's 'Friendlies' tab. If Nokama wished to, she could have gone ahead and waited for them at the base. Once again, after the suggestion, Vakama had snarled at him. Matau explained that Toa stuck together, and did not abandon others when the situation got tough. That struck a nerve, and Clarke had spent the next thirty seconds arguing with both the Toa of Fire and of Air about what he meant by his suggestion.

Finally, when they moved out again, Clarke was the one carrying the Gauss cannon. The rest of Group Two quickly left him behind- all except Nokama, who was traveling in the middle, between the Spartan and the other two Toa. At least he hadn't completely alienated the team.

-

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT**

Turaga Dume peered out of his sphere. The floor was covered with some sort of Rahi- none of them moving. He briefly contemplated staying in the protosteel ball, but dismissed the idea. His city needed a leader- though, he had to confess, he had feelings of trepidation as to what had happened in his absence. Moving carefully, he stepped clear of the sphere, and started to walk as close to the side of the cave as possible- far away from the unknown creatures.

They looked like small Kraata- though he had no doubt that they were dangerous. The number continued to go on and on.  
Turaga Dume hoped he was heading the right way, and not further into the caves- though there was no way to be sure.

-

**METRU NUI - ONU-METRU DISTRICT  
UNDERGROUND CHUTE CHASM  
20 MINUTES AFTER LEAVING CHUTE**

Whenua was busy digging a tunnel, putting a decent slant to it- not enough that they would slide to the bottom if they fell, but enough that they would eventually make it to the surface. Eventually.  
Nuju and Onewa both noticed the solitary Sentinel on the other side of the chasm- and it noticed them. It was also staying well out of effective Rhotuka range. Onewa was getting more and more frustrated with every minute that passed- had they not been turned into Hordika, they would have been out of the chasm before now, and would be well on their way to Po-Metru.

Now they were stuck on a ledge above a chasm, with only one of them able to do anything to get them out of it. Using their Rhotuka was right out- the spinners were not suited for careful work such as this, and were more likely to cause the whole ledge to collapse. And the golden construct's staring was starting to get to the Toa of Stone- his Hordika side felt like he was naught but a stone rat in a cage, placed in a Ga-Metru laboratory for some sort of observation experiment.  
Nuju had tried to use his ice spinner to write out a message on the opposite side of the chasm, but had given up on it due to it being a waste of energy. The Sentinel hadn't acknowledged the effort, either.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
ONE KILOMETER FROM DMZ  
19 MINUTES AFTER RECOVERING GA-METRU MAKOKI STONE**

Clarke could no longer see Matau or Vakama in the distance- and Nokama had vanished from view too. He could, however, hear the Visorak behind him closing in. At certain points, he turned around, hefting the Gauss cannon, using the interface device to run power from his GEN2 armor to the weapon, and gave his pursuers a reason to stay back. That had stopped more than two minutes ago, due to the six-shot chamber running out of loaded projectiles to fire- and his entire left side burned with pain as well.

The SIV had no idea how close he was to the DMZ's edge. The pursuing spiders had begun to shoot at him, forcing him to randomly weave around, lest his movement become too predictable. He wished that his visor was still intact- the rear-view camera mounted on the back of his helmet would have been very useful here. He triggered his back-mounted magnetic clamps, allowing the Gauss cannon to fall to the ground, and pulled the ammo bag off as well. If he couldn't make it to the DMZ, he wouldn't need the mounted weapon anyway. And if he did, he could send Sentinels out to retrieve it later.

A spinner landed. His shields flared, taking the brunt of it. He still felt the burning sensation on his back, even through the energy barrier and the armor. The Vohtarak spinner had also imported a small amount of kinetic force- the Lieutenant stumbled, righted himself using his thruster pack- and kept running. The next spinner that hit took him off of his feet- an energy web snapped into place around him, preventing movement inside. He still tried to crawl forward, straining against the electricity, his shields failing and collapsing completely- and titanium-A made for a good conductor. Were it not for the undersuit, the Spartan would have been exposed to a near-fatal shock, the armor's reactor losing containment shortly afterwards and detonating with enough energy to carbonize everything within fifteen meters of the blast. Clarke noticed his vision begin to tunnel inwards, and saw the spiders approaching- and then a red streak tore into them from the right side, setting fire to two of the spiders.

One of the buildings- covered by webs, and large sections of its overall structure missing- collapsed into the street, crushing a large portion of the center of the pursuing force beneath it. The conscious part of Clarke's mind 'smiled'. Group Two hadn't abandoned him after all- they had set a trap for his pursuers, and waited until he had lured them into a position that would allow for maximum disruption. The field faded away- and the Lieutenant began crawling again, his legs still numb and unresponsive. Two feet came down a meter in front of his face. "Some mighty-strong warrior you are, stranger! Slow-crawling around like a worm-Rahi..."  
A pair of hands reached down, grabbing onto his shoulders and lifting him up, before letting go- and the Spartan immediately collapsed again, his face distorting into various expressions of pain. "What's wrong-bad with your legs? Can you not stand-walk?"

"Spinner. Legs are numb. No feeling."

Matau picked up the SIV again, this time supporting him. The mutated Toa of Air started to walk forward- still holding the Spartan up. The movement quickly dissipated the numbness, replacing it with pain. The Spartan let out a hiss- and the Hordika let go, putting some distance between him and the SIV. Clarke fell over again, but this time got up on his own, albeit unsteadily. A red shape shot past him, closely followed by a blue one. It clicked in the Lieutenant's mind that if the Toa were flat-out sprinting away from the combat zone, that perhaps he should do the same. Shoving the pain to the side, he began to run again, with the Toa of Air keeping pace next to him. The spiders behind them began to fire again, and the screeching noises that they uttered were far too close for comfort.

The interface device issued a triple-note chime. A grin spread over Clarke's face as he continued to run, triggering his thruster pack at certain intervals, shoving him to either the left or the right, hoping to throw off the Visorak's aim. Matau suddenly grabbed onto his arm and pulled him into a building. The Spartan lost his balance- being yanked off one's feet at full sprint will do that- and activated his thruster pack in an effort to keep himself standing up. Instead he ended up planting himself front-first into the nearest wall- and the material did not yield under the impact. Matau couldn't help it- he had to chuckle at that, memories of his misadventures on the Le-Metru Moto Hub test track coming to the fore of his mind.

The other two Hordika, having also taken cover in the structure, had mixed reactions. Nokama moved forward to check on the Spartan, which, by the time that the Toa of Water got to him, had fallen backwards to land on the ground. Vakama simply snorted and turned to look out of the closest window as a large force of gold-armored metal bird-like constructs came flying from a side street to pierce deep into the Visorak formation from the right- and as the spiders started to realign themselves to defend against the aggressors, another group of robots cut into their now-exposed former left, catching the Visorak between hammer and anvil and splitting their group in two. A third flight of automatons - heavier rectangular units - hovered up the street, already bombarding the cut-off group with explosive projectiles.

Clarke's eyes slowly opened. "Thanks for not leaving me behind," he said, a respectful tone in his voice. He raised his hand, to which the Toa of Water took it and helped him to his feet. "We're in the DVZ, right?"

Vakama's voice came from the other side of the room. "See for yourself."

The Lieutenant unsteadily walked to the window- assisted by the Toa of Water, who knew what it was like to be hit by a Suukorak spinner. The Spartan looked outside, watching the battle. The Visorak started to retreat from the Sentinels, as part of some sort of organized rout- they apparently knew that they had been beaten, but also knew from previous experience that the Sentinels wouldn't press their apparent advantage over a certain boundary. Only a few of the encircled spiders managed to break out, at a heavy cost to the rest. Those that managed to get over the line were unhindered, even after the surrounded group had been eradicated.

Clarke's attention was drawn to a single Suukorak- missing one of it's legs, it's crest slagged by Sentinel beams - as it turned around and stared with it's single eye at where Group Two had vanished. It was standing over the spot where he had taken that direct hit and had been brought down. It clicked it's mandibles together, fired a single shot at the Sentinels- which easily evaded it- and walked off. The Spartan ran the numbers in his head, calculating just how far away he had been from the edge of the 'Dead Visorak Zone'. Thirty meters. Well within weapons range of the Sentinels.

And they wouldn't have been able to save him- their protocols only allowed them to engage targets within the DVZ. '_There but for the grace of God..._' He turned around, walking away from the window, before leaning against the wall again. His head moved to the left, looking at the three Toa. "Thank you for saving my life. I'll have to thank Norik for preventing me from going out here myself as well- I would have been either run down at the bridge, drowned, or overrun a minute after entering Ga-Metru without local knowledge of the area." He sighed. "I owe you one." There was no way around that- she had acted as arbitrator and mediator far too many times for it to not be official.

A smile crossed Nokama's face- which disappeared due to Matau's next comment. "Well, we would have quick-left you far-behind, had our water-sister not hard-commanded that we guard-safe you."  
Clarke blinked, then grinned. "Then it seems I owe you yet another debt of gratitude, ma'am."

-

**ONU-METRU DISTRICT  
ONE HOUR 12 MINUTES AFTER LEAVING CHUTE**

Group One's escape tunnel was far more beneficial than expected. After thirty minutes of digging, it had connected with an Archives sub-level tunnel, which the three Hordika followed until they entered an area that Whenua remembered. From there it was easy enough to get back up to the main levels, and then back up to the surface. The Sentinel had followed them for the majority of the journey, but they had temporarily split up in order to confuse it, and then watched as it went in the wrong direction down another tunnel.

Once they got up to the city proper, they quickly made up for the time that they had lost in the Archives. They had emerged near the border between the metrus- and evaded Visorak patrols as they crossed over. Po-Metru was something different, though- there was a lot of spider activity - and fortifications - around the edges, but as they traveled inwards, there was almost no contact, with the exception of the odd Kavinika or Kikanalo.

The atmosphere was different too. There was the base undercurrent of revulsion and primordial fear that the Hordika had grown accustomed to in terms of being in a Visorak-occupied area, but there was something else as well. Something... more. Almost as if they were naught but unarmed Ko-Matoran wandering into the Zivon's land of darkness, or a stone rat sneaking into a Muaka's lair. As if they were being watched- being sized-up by some malevolent force.

It took a great act of will to keep one foot moving in front of the other, as the mutated Toa's Hordika nature hissed and spat at them, trying to gain control, to turn around and gallop at full speed away from the maw of some deadly predator that had staked out the area as it's own.


	15. The Search (3)

**CHAPTER 15  
THE SEARCH (3)**

METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC OPERATIONS COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE

"Well, we're here. Now what do we do?" Vakama queried, a small hint of irritation in his voice.

"What we do is... find a way to get up on the roof. All ground-level access hatches were sealed shut, and I can only open those from the inside."

The group started walking around the wing structure, looking for any sort of appreciable incline or pile of debris. It wasn't long before they came across the Covenant camp at the base of the dreadnought's wing. The Sentinels had apparently cleaned up in the Lieutenant's absence- the majority of the wreckage had been moved away, and the Covenant habitation modules had been dismantled. A few Covenant weapons lay scattered around the former battlefield- when Matau bent down to pick one up, Clarke had quickly moved up and pulled the Toa of Air's hand back- and ignored the mutated Toa's growl of irritation in response. "You don't want to touch those," he had said. "Covenant weapons run on superheated plasma. If their cores are damaged, even slightly... well, even moving it would have consequences. Unless you don't mind losing that arm..."

All three Toa kept a respectful distance from the discarded weapons after that. There were vehicles as well- the majority had been scorched into unusable scrap metal by the destruction of the Scarab, or by the subsequent Visorak assault, but a few of the Wraith self-propelled artillery platforms still functioned. Or, at least, they appeared like they would be able to function. Jul'Mdama's Covenant faction sometimes liked to place booby traps on their vehicles if it looked like they were about to be overrun.

None of that would help them get inside, though. Clarke's jetpack was capable of generating enough thrust to get himself onto the roof, but he was leery of doing so- not until he was able to run a full diagnostic on his armor. That Suukorak spinner had indeed done some noticeable damage to his suit of MJOLNIR GEN2, as his shielding system was currently running at half it's capability, and the active camouflage system had been completely scrammed. He had a feeling that if he tried to activate the jetpack, it might just blow up.

More slagged vehicles, more discarded Covenant weapons... there were a few bodies as well, mostly Sangheili. Nokama had queried on their origin.

"The full details are classified, but I can tell you this much. These particular Sangheili- that's their species name- weren't nice individuals. They'd probably fill your body full of plasma as soon as they spotted you. We've fought with them in the past... didn't win most of those battles where it counted, and those that we did, the cost was extreme. To them, we are naught but animals- Rahi- ready for slaughter."

A look of distaste flickered across Nokama's face. "Did you not try to communicate with them?"

"The opening move of the Great War was them obliterating an entire agricultural settlement populated with civilians for no apparent reason. If Aeona were here, she could give you more information on Harvest, up to and including the exact casualty and fatality figures.

So a colony goes dark. A ship- CMA _Argo_\- is dispatched to investigate. It gets there- and that's the last we know of it. Three other craft are brought to bear, to try and figure what was going on. They get to Harvest, find a single ship in local. It doesn't match any known designs, so they sent a first contact signal."

The Lieutenant stared straight at the Toa of Water, his eyes hardened. "All we got in response was something to the extent of 'your destruction is the will of the gods, and we are their instrument'. And then the fleet was reamed apart by plasma fire. Fourteen seconds later, CMA _Arabia_ and _Vostok_ are naught but atomized gas, and the third ship, the _Heracles_, barely managed to escape, taking significant damage in the process."

Clarke turned his head ever so slightly, looking at all three Toa in turn. "We tried to talk. It didn't work. Twenty-six years of the same thing followed, with that fate befalling more and more colonies, eventually reaching our home, our capital. Total casualties and fatalties? Twenty billion plus individuals dead or missing. You ask why humanity doesn't hold back, why we always go for full lethality? Look no further than the Human-Covenant War."

Vakama's face fell. Matau looked green- at least, greener than before. And Nokama looked... well, she looked pissed. "These... Covenant... just came out of nowhere and immediately set to wiping you out completely?"

"Yes."

"Then I am truly glad that we have never met them before. And we are deeply saddened at your losses."

_'Deeply saddened' doesn't bring back the dead, lady.'_ There were other thoughts swirling around in his head- most of them of the lives lost, with his id demanding that they offer more than just a simple _'we're sad to hear that'_, and the truly aggressive militant section of his psyche snarling at him for _'giving the aliens ideas on how to finish the job'_. Just as always, he gathered all the negative ideas, squeezed them into a ball, and shoved it deep down within him.

"As you said, you never have had contact with the Covenant. Otherwise this city would have been naught but glass." He shook his head, dispelling the memories of glassed planets and the souls of those that had inhabited them. "Now, as for getting into Wingbase... there's no usable vehicles in this camp, everything that we could use to build a ladder has been broken, and I sure as heck won't be able to jump thirty-five meters straight up... though I don't know about you thre- wait, where'd Matau go?"

The two Toa and singular Spartan looked around in all directions, with Vakama being the first to spot the Toa of Air. "Matau, what are you doing?"

"Seek-finding a way far-up!" The Toa had walked to a spot around ten meters away from the door, and was charging his Rhotuka launcher.

"Wha- Matau, don't shoot at my base! Not like air would do much damage... but still, don't shoot!"

"Calm-chill yourself, Spartan-warrior! I have a plan!"

At this, both Nokama and Vakama's heads dropped to their chests, and both let out a sigh at the same time. For some reason, that proceeded to send chills down Clarke's spine. "Whatever you're thinking of doing, Matau, just remember that there's a rather large amount of Sentinels in the area!"

He glanced to his left at the two Toa, which now had growing expressions of alarm on their face, and had both moved to stare directly at the Spartan. "They won't target him, by the way. They're not able to- their targeting ledgers have been locked and are unable to be altered." He said, trying to soothe any potential fears. "I'm just trying to stop him from wasting energy trying to get in."

Matau suddenly took off, his blade hooked into his spinner- which gave him enough thrust to pick him off of the ground and into the air. Once he cleared the roof, he unhooked his weapon from the energy blast, and landed on the top of the dreadnought's wing. "You coming or what?"

The other two Toa looked at each other, blinked, walked forward into position, and started charging up their Rhotuka launchers as well. Clarke was more-than-slightly impressed- Matau had just discovered the wonders of a jetpack... though overcharging their energy launchers and 'holding' onto the blasts was certifiably crazy- what if the spinner were to lose containment during the process? _'Nothing ventured...'_

Nokama and Vakama both took off as well. Though the Toa of Water wasn't as fast as the other two - most likely due to her elemental power being water, not fire or air itself - the spinner's momentum was still enough to get her to the roof. "Lieutenant Clarke!"

He shook his head again. "Yeah?"

"Are you going to come up here as well? We sort of need you to get in!"

Beside Nokama, the Toa of Fire snorted. "We could have been at the Great Temple by now. The others are probably already there, waiting for us."

"And if they're not?"

"Then we get there quick-first, and loud-shout our victory in finding our splinter-pieces before them!"

Below, Clarke ran towards the wall, jumped into the air, and triggered his jetpack. At least if it exploded, the rest of Group Two were out of sight- so they wouldn't have to see his charred armor falling back down to the ground.  
The jetpack worked perfectly, propelling him up to the top of the roof- then cutting out exactly when he wanted it to. He landed on the Forerunner adamantine, now feeling like an idiot that he didn't do that sooner. They started walking towards an entrance hatch.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CAVES**

Turaga Dume continued to walk forward- or, as far as he knew to be 'forward'. The luminous plant-life in the caves had been drilled away- or eaten- leaving him wandering around in pitch-black darkness. He had stepped on a few of the worm-Rahi earlier- though they didn't respond to his intrusion, and appeared to be dead, he had erred on the side of caution and quickly left it behind him. There were others that were alive, though were in some sort of trance-like state as well.

There was an undercurrent of fear throughout the tunnel, warning him of impending danger, to get out as fast as possible. Were he but a simple Matoran, he would have succumbed to the nigh-overwhelming sensation and fled- most likely to get lost in the tunnels and never see the light of day again.

The cave that he had been following opened up into a large chamber- and he stopped. Something was glowing in the center of the room, illuminating the entire chamber. What it revealed was disturbing.  
Almost every single surface was covered by worms. The ground had collapsed around the edges of the chamber, creating a moat-like fortification, of which Dume could not see the bottom. He had apparently stumbled into the worm-Rahi's nest.

Consume. Devour. Multiply.  
Sleep.

The thanolekgolo had come across something interesting in the tunnels. An object- a stone- that was protected by a sphere of pure concentrated light. They had fallen on the object, trying to devour it- but everything that passed into the field of light was instantly immolated. The worms had then tried to collapse a section of the cavern ceiling on it, but the object had deflected the large stone and launched it away at high speeds. The thanolekgolo had then decided to form their primary hive around it- the energy given off by the object served well as a heat source.

Less than an hour later, they had devoured enough raw materials and accumulated enough of a population to reach yet another point in their evolution, and had stopped nearly all activity, retracting the majority of their hunting Tendrils back to their various decentralized nests.

Now, they slept. And they Changed.

The Gestalt was reborn.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

Lieutenant Clarke ran through the various hallways, his interface device active and guiding him towards the designated storage compartment where the aircraft had been stowed away, the rest of Group Two following close behind. The Spartan screeched to a stop- though the three Toa behind him, traveling at speed, were unable to do the same. All four individuals went down in a pile.

"Why did you stop?"

"Because that was the door! Get off me!"

Nokama was the first to get free, followed by Matau and Clarke, which both helped Vakama to his feet afterwards. Clarke flipped a holographic button on the interface device, and the door cycled open. The Spartan was the first one in, already moving towards the closest AV-14 VTOL craft.

The Toa entered a bit more cautiously. Their Hordika mentality did not appreciate being cooped up inside the walls of a structure- even one as expansive as this. Once again, Vakama's attention was drawn to the material that the structure was made of- definitely not protodermis. This fact also interested Nokama, as nothing she had seen upon entering the downed craft had been composed of protodermis. Even the 'Covenant' camp outside had no trace of the material, aside from the dust that had blown over it.

Matau was more concerned with the five vehicles in the hangar. Clarke had gone over to one of them, and was reaching inside- then pulling his hand back, repeating the action twice more, before heading back in their direction.

"Toa. Each of you take one of these." He extended his arms, three rectangular boxes being held in his hands- each with a strap on them, with a connecting line leading to a half-circle band. "They're communication devices- we'll be needing them to stay in contact with each other."

At first, nobody moved- and then Nokama scoffed, took a step forward, and plucked one of the devices out of the Lieutenant's hand- then realized a problem. Her right arm was fused with her fin barb, thus making it more than difficult to attach it to her arm. Meanwhile, both the Toa of Air and Fire stared at him. "Why do we need these communication equipment?"

"Because we're going out to assist Nuju, Onewa, and Whenua with their mission- or, if they're still not out of Onu-Metru, we're going to grab the Po-Metru stone fragment for them, then pick them up when they get to the surface. And I don't know about you, but hearing is somewhat diminished when you're riding- or piloting- a Hornet."

That brought the Toa of Air to attention. "Wait, you mean those airships? We're going to fly on that?"

"Well, yes. I'm going to need Nokama to come with me-"

"Why?" Vakama growled- the Hordika nature of protecting his herd- his team- rising to the surface.

"-because Onewa doesn't trust me at all, and showing up by myself in a fast-moving attack aircraft would only serve to fan the flames of his suspicion and probably force him to declare outright hostility. Therefore, I need Nokama to come with, because she can calm Onewa down-"

"Then I'm coming with you too."

"So am I!"

Clarke sighed. "You do realize that these aircraft are only cleared for three individuals- one pilot, and two passengers, right? Now, while Matau is a given- I'm going to need a second Hornet in the air, after all," At this, Matau's eyes lit up at the thought of flying again, and he immediately picked up . "Because I'll be picking up three individuals when there are only two seats, of which one will need to be occupied by Nokama, so as to prevent Onewa from tossing rocks at me- you, on the the other hand, take up one too many slots."

He gestured to the aircraft. "Do the math. Two Hornets equal four available seats. One of which has an occupant right off the start..." The Lieutenant swiveled towards Nokama. "That is alright with you, right? That you accompany me on this mission so that I don't get poked at by Onewa?"

All that he got back in response was a nod- then Nokama went back to trying to secure the radio to her shoulder. Matau began to assist, taking the strap completely off of one side, then tying it firmly into place. Nokama did the same for the Toa of Air.

"...and with a certain Toa of Fire tagging along, that number is now down to two, which means that one of them is going to have to walk back to base- and before you even think about leaving me out there, consider what the repercussions of doing so would be."

Vakama blinked. Apparently that idea hadn't occurred to him- or he had dismissed the thought of doing so. He glanced at the aircraft, then back at the Spartan. "What about the top?"

The Lieutenant let out a short laugh. "You're kidding." Three seconds passed. "You're not. You do realize that there is no handrails, no actual surfaces to grip, at all, up there? If you honestly think you're going to go through with that... you're crazy. I will not have your death on my conscience because you decided to fly up top and slipped off due to either traveling at high speeds, or because of taking evasive action and you not being able to keep your grip while doing so."

"What about the purple airships?"

"Those are Covenant Banshees. I wouldn't even think about using those- I still haven't checked them for traps yet."

"Either I fly in one of those, or on top of your... Hornet. Your choice. I will not simply wait around."

"...Damn it." The Lieutenant started to walk towards one of the aircraft. "It's going to be crowded when we pick them up- Onewa's going to be riding right next to you. I hope you don't have a problem with that."

**EIGHT MINUTES LATER**

Both Nokama and Vakama sat down in the seats that had been installed on the sides of the AV-14, and strapped themselves in tightly. The other Hornet had received the same treatment- and Matau sat jammed up into it's cockpit. It had apparently not been built for someone of a Toa Hordika's body shape, and was more than slightly uncomfortable for the mutated Toa.

Lieutenant Clarke leaned over, pressed a few buttons on the interface device, and the hangar bay doors cranked open. His Hornet took off smoothly- as agile as he had thought it would be. Matau, on the other hand, proceeded to clip the side of the hangar bay doors, spun around a few times, then leveled out. Clarke pressed the same combination of buttons- this time in reverse- and shut down the ID. The doors cycled closed- faster than they had opened.

The two Hornets began to hover in place- well, one did. The other one kept floating up, down, and side to side for a while.

"Matau, do you have our current location on your screen? It's the dot with three lines above it."

"The clear-shining water-blue dot in Ga-Metru? I clear-see it!"

"Marking location of Po-Metru stone fragment now. Do you see a white circle?"

"Yes!"

"Okay, that's where we're heading. Follow close behind me, but keep at least thirty-five meters between us- if I have to stop abruptly, I don't want to risk a mid-air collision."

"What's a meter?"

The Lieutenant's Hornet began to move out. Matau followed behind, his aircraft still jerking around- though not as badly as it once was.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
THREE KILOMETERS FROM PO-METRU MAKOKI STONE LOCATION**

"We've been walking for hours... and we've seen only five Rahi. Five. Either the Visorak have been busy in this section- in which case one would expect to see a lot more webs around- or there's something else going on."

"You think they're escaping to the island above? Or moving into the Archives?"

"I don't know. Look, let's just get this stone and leave. The less talking, the better."

A few minutes later, they came across a single Visorak patrol- all of which had clustered on top of a carver's hut, and were precariously balanced on top of one another. One of them screeched out an alert- and then let out another cry as the mound of spiders started shifting around to view the Hordika. However, not a single one dropped to the ground to give chase, nor did they charge up their Rhotuka launchers. It was... rather unnerving.

The three Toa cautiously circled around the group, which watched them intently. Finally, a Boggarak was pushed to the edge and fell off- and immediately tried to scramble back up on top of the hut. The rest of the spiders prevented the fallen one access, and it finally dropped back to the ground- and took off in the opposite direction, heading for Onu-Metru. Whenua blinked. That was new behavior from the 'stealers of life'.

Onewa began to charge up his Rhotuka- but the other two Toa quickly intervened. "The Visorak could have overwhelmed us in spinners by now." Nuju stated. "They must know something we don't... let's not use our spinners, lest we attract whatever has frightened those Rahi. Just because it has attacked them does not mean it won't attack us." They started to walk backwards- what would under any other circumstances be considered as a prey tactic- but the Visorak didn't leap down or pursue them. If anything, a collective shudder rippled through the group- and then they started to move. The majority of the spiders crawled off the roof and either followed the fleeing Boggarak, or headed in the direction of Ga-Metru.

Only ten remained. They continued to stare directly at the Toa. The three protectors continued to back up until they were a respectful distance away- and then started to run. Nuju looked behind him- if the Visorak were to follow, he would alert the others... but the spiders remained on their perch, still staring at the group, until they disappeared out of sight.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU - GA-METRU BORDER - GA-METRU SIDE  
107 KILOMETERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL  
18 MINUTES SINCE TAKEOFF**

Nokama had been silent for the majority of the trip. The experience of flying above her home metru, taking in the sight of the ruined skyline and the Visorak webbing everywhere... it was almost too much to deal with. It was nearly a blessing that they had ascended so high- she could no longer pick out individual details, individual structures... but her memory was still intact, and her time as a teacher gave her innate knowledge on where everything in Ga-Metru was located.

She wondered how Vakama was handling his view- seeing Ta-Metru in the distance, the city-scape missing in certain places, with the mark of the spiders on almost everything. "We will take our city back. We will rebuild."

She did not realize that she had spoken aloud until Vakama's voice came over the communications system as well. "It will take a long time before the stain of the Visorak is gone. But we will succeed. The Matoran deserve freedom and prosperity."

Below them, the landscape changed, the two Hornets flying over the bordering canal and into Po-Metru itself. The Visorak seemed hard at work, constructing a wall between the two districts. From the cockpit, Clarke made an observation. '_Bet they're going to be happy they don't have to try and breach that._' There was other activity around the wall. Flying creatures. He made a mental note on that subject- the spiders apparently had their own air force, which didn't pose well for the topic of potential air superiority. Still, they were flying high enough that the Visorak were unable to detect them, either because they were focused on their work, or they just didn't bother.

He wished he was flying the Pelican again. For one, the Toa wouldn't have to ride on the side of the strike craft while gripping tight on anything that could bear their weight- and at least the Pelican was more heavily armored, and shielded to boot. The Hornet, on the other hand... one good hit would send it tumbling down.

Clarke checked the Hornet's rear-view camera. Matau had apparently managed to get used to the controls of the AV-14, and was no longer floating from side to side, gaining, or losing altitude irregularly. Now how good he was at landing was a different story altogether.  
"Ten minutes out! Once we arrive at the destination, we'll circle around as we come in for a landing. I know these are supposed to be VTOL craft, but I would rather err on the side of caution and not get potentially shot down by camouflaged Visorak... or Onewa."

"Onewa isn't a bad individual, Lieutenant. He just doesn't trust you."

"Never said he was, ma'am."

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CAVES**

Turaga Dume had two choices. One; he could go back the way he came, and hope that there was another path that could bring him to the surface- and that he could reach it before these peculiar Rahi woke up from their slumber. Or he could try and skirt the edges of the chamber, and get to the other side, where he could see another tunnel, this one heading upwards at an incline.

On one hand, going back into the tunnels meant that he could get away from this worm-Rahi nest that he had stumbled onto, and perhaps eventually find another way out... though that was improbable, especially in the darkness. On the other hand, if he were to inch his way along the small ledge around the walls of the cavern, he could reach that other tunnel- and from there, if that tunnel did not change course, escape from the caves. What would he find, though...

The Turaga slowly slid onto the ledge, making sure to test how much weight it could take per step. It continued to hold. Dume channeled his experiences as a Toa, moving through enemy territory with stealth. The Rahi remained sleeping, unaware of the Turaga slowly making his way along the edge of the chamber.

At one point, a jagged piece of rock had apparently come loose from the stone pillar in the center of the room at one point, and the light from the stone shone down into the crevice. It would have been better had Dume remained under the impression that he couldn't see the bottom... but now...

The pit was filled with worms. Thousands of them. Looking up, the Turaga was able to discern the shapes of worms hanging from the ceiling- he had initially thought them to be stalactites, but now the reality sank in. If they woke up now, he would barely have time to let out his final breath before they fell upon him. This realization sped up his movement considerably, and before he knew it, he was at the other side.

Now that he was here, he noticed another rock bridge leading towards the center of the chamber- and the glowing stone.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
72 METERS FROM MAKOKI STONE LOCATION - TUNNEL ENTRANCE**

Group One had finally reached the location marked on their tablets. The hole in the ground seemed to emanate with predatory intent, as if it were the maw of some massive creature, ready to prey upon the three Toa. Their Hordika nature had finally won out, and they were stuck at the tunnel entrance, not being able to go inside- whenever they tried, primordial terror rushed over them and they scrambled to apparent safety. Even when they entered as one, they were soon in a mad dash to get back to the surface.

"Something's in there, alright. Something extremely dangerous."

The Toa of Stone snarled at the Ice Hordika. "You think, astrologer? Toa aren't supposed to run from danger- and yet here we are, tumbling over each other like Archives moles in an effort to escape."

"What do you think is down there, Whenua?"

"I don't know what it could be. We didn't act like this when the Zivon was attacking..."

Onewa suddenly raised his head. "Quiet. Listen. Do you hear something?"

The other two Toa stopped talking, and looked up as well. Nuju was the next to hear the noise. "I... don't know for certain what that noise is. It sounds somewhat like the foreigner's airship, but smaller."

"See? He's coming to deal with us! The others trusted him too much!"

"Onewa. Please stop jumping to conclusions. Consider the alternative- that we took so long in the Archives that they've come searching for us. Would we not do the same, had our positions been reversed?"

"Fine. But if we die, I will come back to haunt both of you."

A frustrated expression crossed Nuju's face before he swiveled around, trying to pin down the source of the noise.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
85 KILOMETERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL - DESCENDING IN CORKSCREW FORMATION  
POSITIONED GENERAL AREA ABOVE MAKOKI STONE LOCATION**

"Vakama, Nokama, do you see them yet?"

"No!"

"Not yet! We need to go lower!"

"Matau, any Visorak patrols?"

"Other-aside from the one we high-flew over past-earlier? Negative!"

"Copy that. We'll begin shedding more altitude now- I'm still leery of going full vertical landing here."

On the outside of the Hornet, Vakama's insides were churning. Whenever the Lieutenant made a noticeable turn, the Toa of Fire felt himself start to slide from his seat as gravity took hold. Now they were going to lose more altitude more rapidly- which meant that the pilot was going to start making even sharper turns...

The next 'corkscrew', as Clarke had called it, caused Vakama to nearly slip completely from his seat. After that, he had slid his left arm into the forward handhold, and locked his feet into place, bracing his body against the side of the airship. On the next turn, his feet barely moved, and he remained standing.

Less than five minutes later, the Toa of Fire called out. "I see them! They're right below us!"

"Got it! Activating running lights!"

There was the sound of two switches being flipped. Blinking lights suddenly came to life all over the craft, giving off a faint glow against the dark night sky.

"Hey, why doesn't my airship bright-glow?"

"Please don't touch the center console, Matau. It would not be nice if you accidentally triggered the ejector seat. Not for you, not for us, and certainly not for the other three Toa." Clarke chuckled. "Now that we know where they are, we're going to really cut down on our height. Hang on!"

The Hornet abruptly stopped moving, and then began to descend almost straight down. Matau stopped as well, and followed- he had adapted quite well to the AV-14's controls. It probably helped that it was downright impossible to do tricks in a Hornet.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
TUNNEL ENTRANCE**

Onewa had tried to move inside the tunnel, but had been driven back out by the Hordika nature. Nuju was the first one to notice the actual airships- the fact that one of them had also lit up in a multicolored light show helped as well.

Now they were waiting for the airships to come in for a landing. As they got closer, Nuju was able to make out more details- and suddenly blinked, before turning to Onewa and Whenua. "Nokama and Vakama are riding on the sides of the glowing one. What do you say to that, Onewa?"

"That... the foreigner wants us all in one place before he kills us?" Even that didn't have the same conviction as before- he knew he was grasping in the dark there.

Nuju said nothing in return, just looked away.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
500 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL - DESCENDING RAPIDLY**

Now that they had got closer to the land, the two Toa riding on the side of the Hornet had begun to drift under the influence of their Hordika natures, which were telling them to get as far away from the area as possible before something exceedingly dangerous popped up and devoured them. Matau, on the other hand, was unaffected- the AV-14's cockpit was vacuum-sealed, and the 'air freshener' mounted on the left side of the compartment was soothing to the Toa of Air's Hordika side.

As the two VTOL aircraft descended past the one hundred fifty meter mark, Nokama's Hordika nature rushed to the fore, and she began to press up against the side of the leading Hornet, in an apparent attempt to make herself as invisible as possible. "Something is... is very wrong here!" Vakama had the opposite reaction- he leaned out as far as he could, still keeping his grip on the hand-hold, and let out a battle howl. The Hornet immediately jerked to a stop as the sound reverberated inside the aircraft's cockpit. "The hell was that?"

"There's something... something nearby. Something big. Hostile. Hungry."

"Change of plans, then. Vakama? Nokama? Confirm that that is indeed Group One that we are inbound to."

"Y... yes, it's them. But there's something else as well..." The Water Hordika suddenly howled as well- and that sent chills all throughout the Spartan's body.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CAVES**

Turaga Dume had begun his ascent when the menacing howl reached him, echoing off the walls of the tunnel. The old Turaga flinched- whatever Rahi had made that noise had been well and truly enraged. For a few seconds, he paused- then decided he would rather take his chances with the Rahi above than the worms below.

A second, more wary howl came down the tunnel as well, which once again halted the Turaga's progress. He was starting to re-consider ever leaving the pod- but then remembered the large amount of Rahi covering the floor of the cave, and the small teeth marks in the side of the sphere, and the same teeth marks on the walls of the caves... with that rather disturbing memory forefront in his mind, he continued his upward trek. Even if two Rahi were brawling above, he could still escape while they were busy with each other.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
TUNNEL ENTRANCE**

"What is the foreigner doing to the fire-spitter and our water-sister?" Onewa snarled, his Rhotuka already charging up- held in place by the realization that Nokama and Vakama were clustered within the targeted area, and if he fired, he risked hurting both of them.

The other airship passed by the glowing one- and in the light, the Toa on the ground identified the second pilot. Nuju turned to Onewa. "Nokama and Vakama are probably experiencing the same effect as we are- only they didn't have two hours to acclimatize themselves to it."

The three Toa began to move away from the cave, towards the area where Matau was about to land- though keeping a safe distance from the landing zone, as the Toa of Air's 'skill' with vehicles usually ended up in said vehicle no longer being in decent shape afterwards.

A thanolekgolo Protection Tendril stirred. The Gestalt had reformed itself out of the vestiges of genetic memory that had remained in less than one percent of the Colony, and was now attempting to rouse them from their slumber. Trying to awaken small sections of the All-Devouring Swarm at a time was tedious, but the Gestalt 'knew' that if it were to wake up the entire Colony at once, they would descend upon the aberrations in their midst and succeed in their task of wiping out whatever remained of the Whole Colony- the genetic remnants of Gnas Ign Fuuso. Were the other Mgalekgolo not it's bonded pair, it would not have allowed the Lekgolo eels from Gnin Ing Fuuso to Incorporate with itself, especially after the Taint had been revealed.

Gnin Ing Fuuso - the Partial Colony - had died shortly after Incorporation. What had taken it's place had been something of pure malevolent hunger. The Gestalt had tried to keep it satiated- keep it confined, bound to it's will- but it was too much. Gnas Ign Fuuso had been devoured later on, during the intra-Colony conflict- and the Gestalt had lived on only in genetic patterns within the All-Devouring Swarm. The Taint forced it down, kept it chained, with the threat of enforced self-consumption hovering over the Gestalt-influenced Lekgolo. And then the Taint was suppressed, if only for a few hours, as the Swarm reached yet another point in it's 'evolution'.

The Call kept pulsing, not growing stronger nor weaker. The Gestalt wished to comply with the Call- to seek out it's source. Perhaps after it had wrested control from the Taint, it could do so.

The rest of the Swarm continued to sleep.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
30 METERS ABOVE TUNNEL ENTRACE**

"Nokama, Vakama, straight answer. Is it safe to come in for a landing?" Clarke's answer came when Vakama leapt off the skid and landed- heavily- down below.

That was enough for the Lieutenant, and he began the final leg of the descent. Matau touched down long before him, and opened up the protective glass in order to get out- then froze. Clarke could hear the other three Toa talking over the Toa of Air's radio as they clustered around the Hornet. Onewa made a comment about 'paralyzing venom', which went unheeded by the other two Toa. Once his Hornet cleared the fifteen meter mark, the Toa of Water also sprung off her skid and made a bee-line straight for the rest of the Toa.

"What the..." The Hornet touched down- Clarke was already opening the glass cover and climbing out, then reaching back within it to grab the M6G pistol stored on the inside. He left the aircraft running- if there was indeed some form of insane danger here, he wanted to be able to load up everybody and get the hell out as fast as possible. Even as he walked towards the Toa, his skin began to crawl- and Vakama's actions weren't helping one bit, either.

The Toa of Fire had positioned himself in front of the tunnel, and had started bellowing into it- apparently trying to bring out whatever was inside into a conversation. Clarke clicked off his radio- he had a feeling that he would go deaf after a straight minute of that.  
He put his pistol on his leg armor- the magnetic clamps still worked, at least- and approached the other five Toa, whistling to get their attention, as he had a gut feeling that 'sneaking up' unannounced would not result in anything good.

Onewa swiveled around. "What have you done with them?" He demanded, brandishing his heavy club-arm.

"What have I... we came here to check up on you! You took too long to get to the... uh... temple, slowpoke!"

"And that's why Matau has become unresponsive? Or Nokama acting the way she is? Or Vakama jumping off your airship the second he could?"

The Lieutenant growled, shaking his head and blinking furiously- stamping down on the growing rage within him, of the loss of Aeona, of being trapped on an alien planet with no other human contact... and with this individual that was taking every opportunity he could to sabotage friendly relations between their two civilizations. "You know what? You are so blinded in your suspicion of me that you fail to see sense. Had I been the monster you claim I am, would I have landed to deal with you? No- I've seen what you're capable of. I would have engaged from high above, assaulting you before you even knew I was there."

"The fact that you had had that scenario planned out- though the outcome of doing so would not be what you would expect- further confirms my suspicions." For a second, Onewa wished he still had access to his mask power- he could have dealt with this murderous whelp by now, and possibly even managed to retrieve the Stone fragment without risking his own life with whatever was lurking down below. He hated the thought of being afraid of something in his home Metru.

"...I'm done talking. If you want to continue to be hostile, I'll simply ignore you." The Spartan looked forward, and continued walking towards the other Hornet. "What's going on here? Nokama? Matau?"

Matau sat in the aircraft's cabin, staring straight at the entrance to the tunnel, his entire body trembling- a faint whine squeaking out through his mouth. Nokama had moved away from the Hornet, and was approaching Vakama, informing him to quiet down via a mixture of growls and words. The Toa of Fire never took his gaze away from the maw of the cave, but became noticeably more collected, his rage-filled snarls and howls becoming less challenging, less animalistic... before finally fading altogether. '_Definitely better than Commander Palmer,_' the Spartan thought to himself. '_If she were here, we'd be on our own by now- and one of the Toa would most likely no longer be around._'

The white-armored Toa - Nuju - turned towards the Spartan. "There's something very wrong here. We've been here for a while, and so were able to get acclimatized to it... well, as best as we could. Matau and Nokama have been here for less than four minutes- it's overwhelmed them."

"What do you mean?"

"You don't feel it?"

"The feeling that I'm currently being watched? Yeah, but I was under the impression that that was Onewa."

"It's far worse than that." This from the Toa of Earth - or, as Clarke mentally designated him as, the 'Toa of Dirt'. "It's as if one is being sized up for a meal by something- like being trapped on a flat plain while the Zivon closes in, or in a maze with hungry Kinloka."

"And it gets worse the closer to that cave we get."

"Let me guess..." The SIV said with a sigh, trying to erase the mental image of some shadowy apex predator bursting from the ground, devouring them all before they could react, from his mind, "The stone fragment is down in that cave."

Two nods confirmed it.

"...Shit."

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CAVES**

Turaga Dume had paused in his ascent. The tunnel had become increasingly steeper almost too quickly, to the point where he had to begin to climb it, using the teeth-marks etched into the stone to lever himself up. And then the howls had resumed, exceedingly close and reverberating around the tunnel- and inside the Turaga's head. In those few seconds of surprise, he had lost his balance, and slipped back down the tunnel. There was a faint moment of panic as the impact dislodged his mask and sent it skittering into the darkness. He had found it, raised it to his face- and found a worm resting in it. He gently deposited it on the ground, and placed the mask back on himself.

Ahead of him, he saw the glow of the stone. If the worm-Rahi hadn't been woken up by the snarls echoing from above, then there must be something else going on. Still, he would rather take his chances with the beast lurking above- the noises it was making would inevitably attract the Vahki, anyway- than risk what the worms could do. The howls had ceased, anyway.

Once again, he began to climb.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
TUNNEL ENTRANCE**

"Oh, this is never going to work." Clarke had watched- multiple times- as the Toa tried to go inside the cave, only to reappear moments later, scrambling out of the tunnel in almost pure animalistic terror. Nokama- once she got over the panic that had seized her- had explained what she understood of 'Hordika mentality', and why they were reacting this way. The Lieutenant was still processing the fact that he had been fighting alongside the local equivalent of werewolves for the past few days... and once again agreed with his earlier assessment that it was a blessing that Commander Palmer was nowhere even near the city.  
Both of the Hornets had been shut down, though could be easily fired back up if the need arose.

"What did you see?"

"What I didn't see was you coming in to help us, foreigner!" The venom in Onewa's tone was palpable.

"Somebody has to stay back and guard our rides out of he- wait, did you just ask for my help? I would have thought that you wouldn't want me anywhere near you in close quarters, especially in the dark." A smirk crossed the Spartan's face, which was followed up by a threatening growl from the Toa of Stone. '_I really shouldn't provoke him... but the chucklehead deserves it._'

Onewa's next comment was cut off by Whenua. "Not much. Twenty-six bio into the cave, it became a near-vertical drop. We only got that far because we went in as a team- and even then, our fear overcame us. And if we were to go down, there's no guarantee that we would be able to get back up the same way."

'_Whoever said 'there is nothing to fear but fear itself' never encountered the Flood._' Clarke thought to himself, then... '_Oh, God, I hope that it's not the Flood down there._' If so, it sure as hell wasn't because of his dreadnought- there had been zero Flood samples on board, and nothing had been contained in the Forerunner slipspace pods either... at least, according to Aeona. He, himself, had never been deployed against the parasite- which was thankful, since he only became a S-IV shortly before the UNSC's first contact with Requiem. He had seen the logs of how unshielded infantry fared against the Flood. It wasn't pretty.

The Spartan wished that he had brought along something more substantial than the simple magnum that had been stowed in the Hornet. A MA5D, at least. An idea came to him- and he opened the interface device, already working on a new application... if it worked-

"Hey, I have an idea! Why doesn't the foreigner go down there? Since he doesn't have to deal with being half-Rahi and all?"

Clarke looked down at the ground, obscuring his face. Truth be told, he wasn't all that enthusiastic about it either. The program finished, he turned towards the closest Hornet, and started walking in it's direction.

"See, what did I tell you? When we actually need him for something, he'll just run away!" The comment from Onewa stung... but the Lieutenant was focused on his sudden thought. He opened up the compartments indented into the side of the VTOL aircraft's fuselage, and looked inside. 'Well, there's no getting out of this now.' He reached in.

Four of the Toa watched as the Lieutenant began to take an object out of the aircraft, before walking around to the other side and no doubt repeating the process. At certain points, the Spartan's energy blade powered on for a second before dissipating. "What do you think he's doing?" Nuju asked Matau.

"Not clear-sure. He show-directed me on how to high-fly the airship, not what one might seek-find on it."

Meanwhile, Vakama crouched near the cave entrance, staring into it's depths. Whatever was down there... it was beyond the Visorak. It was something of pure menace. Like the Makuta... the one that had plunged Metru Nui into darkness, and imprisoned the Matoran in unending sleep.

Nokama was busy chiding Onewa for his harsh words- and the Stone Hordika was ignoring his water-sister quite well, tuning her out in favor of putting full concentration into his surroundings. Most of it was directed at the foreigner, tracking his movements, the way he was acting, with just the slightest attention on the tunnel entrance.

The Spartan began to walk towards the group. "Whenua? How deep would you say that hole was?"

"I can't say for certain, not without having a closer look- and perhaps access to my Kanohi power."

"I got one hundred meters of cable here. Would you estimate that would be enough?"

"Mata Nui only knows. What are you planning?"

"I'll bring one of the Hornets closer to the tunnel entrance, and clip on to one of it's rappelling lines with the ones that I've cut off of the other Hornet. After that, I'll bind the two lines here together," he held up the two severed ends, "...And clip the other end to my armor. After that, it's a mere matter of lowering me into the hole. If I get in trouble, I'll sound off with three clicks on the radio, and you'll pull me back up." The Lieutenant stared straight at Onewa. "And maybe after this, you'll start to trust me."

This was more of a reaction than Onewa had expected. He had thought that his comment would have either provoked yet another verbal confrontation, or succeeded in vindicating his assumption that the foreigner was either a coward or a Piraka- either he would fully retreat, or he would lash out- in which case his brothers and sister could easily defend themselves. Instead, the foreigner called the bluff- and was about to show the Toa of Stone up to boot, descending into the same tunnel that his Hordika side barred him entry from.

The Spartan never stopped moving, striding towards the other aircraft, opening the side panel, and dragging a long metal cord from it. "Matau? Once I get into the cave, I'm going to need you to hop into that Hornet and bring it closer- as close as you can get. If you hear three clicks on the radio, don't think, just lift off and reverse." He paused for a second, clipping the two rappelling sections together, and shrugging off both coils of wire. "As for the rest of you, if Matau suddenly goes diagonal, that's your cue to run like the Devil itself is after you- because it probably is. Now, I'm not too certain that a Hornet can carry five passengers on it, especially ones of your stature, but we'll try to make that happen. Right, Matau?"

The Toa of Air merely nodded assent, already thinking about being able to fly again- and especially being back in the sealed pilot compartment, away from whatever evil had taken root in Po-Metru.

Clarke set the two wires down on the ground, with both severed ends touching each other. He activated his interface device's blade, then triggered his new app. The blade began to shrink, forming into a tool not unlike Vakama's blazer claws- and they worked on the same principle, or so he assumed. Channeling an exceedingly small amount of energy directly from the GEN2 armor's reactor into plasma containment fields, the energy welder came to life, fusing the two severed ends of the rappelling cords into one. Of course, that wasn't the true purpose of the application- but it worked as expected on the small scale.  
He just hoped that it would hold together under the weight of his body.

Finally, all that remained was to clip it onto his armor... he wound the end cord around his waist, then sealed it off with another burst of energy. He hoped that he wouldn't encounter whatever was down in that cave- and that there were no multiple choice pathways along the way to the stone. He picked up both cords again, and began his short journey into darkness.

During his final approach to the tunnel, Nokama had approached him, saying that it was not right to send him down alone.

"True, it's not right, or fair. But every time you Toa enter that tunnel, it always drives you right back out again. It's not fair for you to go down, either."

"A Toa should not be scared of the dark-"

"Just stay up top, and prepare to move. And please talk to Onewa- his hostility is directly counterproductive to inter-team relations. By the way, count this as the 'IOU' from earlier."

And before Clarke could think about what could be lurking down in the cave, he took off into a sprint, disappearing into the black.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CAVES**

Turaga Dume had more success this time- the absence of roaring from the top was a definite boon. The Vahki had undoubtedly secured the Rahi above. A light began shining at the top- blue light, lightly bouncing up and down- as if somebody was approaching. Dume did not know what to make of it- was it a rescue party? Lightstones didn't shine in that color. It also explained why he couldn't see the sky at the top of the hole, either- there was still more caves to trek through. At least he would be out of the nest.

A figure appeared at the top of the hole- the light was coming from his head. A... Toa? One of the Mangai? None of them wore a Kanohi Ruru... though they could have easily have had one made for them. He raised his left hand, trying to make himself look larger, trying to draw attention to him- and the stone gave way under his other hand. Dume felt gravity start to pull on him, and barely regained his balance, gripping tightly onto the wall and scrambling for a new handhold. He directed some of his Kiril's power towards fixing the hole- and was surprised when the ledge widened for him. Of course- it had been gnawed away! All this time, he could have created easy steps leading upwards, could have sealed the hole behind him... he felt like a Matoran again, in foolishness only. He looked back up- and saw the Toa- the heavily-armored Toa- lowering itself down towards him.

Clarke grimaced. After twenty-five meters, his MJOLNIR GEN2's inbuilt lamps faded away into darkness. If his visor were still intact, he could have used VISR, or Promethean Vision... '_But nooo, I just had to play the hero and take a Pelican control stick to the face. And now I've fallen for the same thing- playing the hero like the propaganda posters pasted everywhere had proclaimed. WE ARE THE GIANTS NOW... JOIN THE UNSC!_'

He thought over it a bit. '_Better a SPARTAN-IV than a Marine. I rather like my shields._'

Every so often, he paused and looked down. There was a rocky outcropping nearby- he'd head for that, then actually take some time to look at his surroundings. If he could find some claw marks to identify what could be down here, that would be pleasant- at least then, he wouldn't be caught off guard.

'_At least if I survive this, the Toa of Stone will hopefully quit running his mouth about how I'm a 'traitor' and 'coward'. I've done nothing but help them since I got here._'

There was a sudden cracking noise- the sound of pebbles tapping against rock as they plummeted from a decent height- from deep in the tunnel. Clarke looked down again. '_Okay... what was that?_'

With the cord around his waist, he couldn't turn his body around to actually look down the tunnel- and he was exceedingly thankful for that, as otherwise he would be stuck in that position, dangling face-first into the darkness like a worm on a hook. Nothing showed itself.

The Lieutenant waited for fourteen seconds before continuing his descent- though was ready at any moment to grip tight on the rope with his left hand and grab his pistol with his right. '_Climbing up conventionally will be a right pain._'

He touched down on the outcropping. "Try not to think of this as some large creature's gullet... Think of something nice, like rock climbing." he whispered to himself, to calm himself down.

Turaga Dume had heard what the Toa had said. Up until then, the thought had not occurred to him. Now that his potential rescuer had spoken it... well, that was another reason to get out of here as fast as he could. He was in the process of forming ledges to stand on as he worked past the barrier that he had created in his haste to get out.

He knew of the folly of sneaking up on a Toa, even unknowingly. He knocked on the overhanging rock- as quietly as possible, but just enough to attract the attention of the being standing on it.

He wasn't prepared for something large to swing past him, attached to a long cord, and come to a stop directly behind him, on the other wall. There was a click. "Who... what are you?"

There was inherit aggressiveness - and confusion - in his tone, which wouldn't be there had the Toa been one of the Mangai... with two notable exceptions. '_So. Not a Toa then- at least, not one of Metru Nui's protectors._' "I am Turaga Dume, Turaga of Metru Nui."

"Turaga?"

There was a brief moment of worry- what if this individual was a Dark Hunter? He put aside that thought. "Yes. I am Metru Nui's leader."

"If you are who you say you are, what are you doing down in these tunnels?"

Another pause. "I woke up down here."

"You wouldn't have seen a monstrous creature down here, something profoundly terrifying that filled you with absolute fear?"

"No."

Clarke's SPARTAN-IV training under Palmer screamed at him to pull the trigger, dispose of the potential threat- but his gut feeling, and instincts, prevented him. His gut feeling was that this individual was indeed a civilian- and the UNSC was not in the business of executing civilians. Even Commander Palmer, with her intense dislike of science personnel, would... most likely... probably... never do so. At least, not in person. Hopefully.  
His instincts, on the other hand, indicated that the actual threat was further below. He slowly lifted his finger off the trigger, but did not move the Magnum itself.

"What about a stone fragment? There would be something special about it... it's apparently part of something called the Makoki Stone."

"Makoki Stone..." The memory rushed back to the Turaga- the Stone had been offered to Lhikan in exchange for the return of several captured Toa. Six months later, it had disappeared again- stolen by the Dark Hunters. _'Now it was back on Metru Nui?'_

Before he said anything else, he had to either clear or confirm his suspicions. "Are you a Toa?"

"Myself? No. However, I am a very close ally of your city's Toa force- and, by the definitions of what Nokama has told me about Toa, one could infer that I could indeed be designated as one."

Dume remained impassive, but inwardly was intrigued. '_How very... peculiar. Not a Toa, but an ally of the Mangai. And has obviously been in at least one Ga-Metru class._' "Where are you from?"

"Down south. Way, way far south. More further south than you've most likely traveled."

'_An inhabitant of the Southern Islands? Here?_' Now that was definitely interesting. "I would like to talk more, but this is an uncomfortable position. And I have a feeling that you have a weapon trained on me."

"You would be correct in that statement- though that is simply because I didn't know you, and you were crawling up the same tunnel that is giving me all sorts of creeps, even before I started rappelling down. Now, I have two choices." There was a second click- though Dume did not turn his head to see what it was, his negotiation instincts informed him that the weapon was indeed no longer pointed at the back of his head.

"And what would those be?"

"One: I let you go up top, and continue onwards. This implies that I trust you not to cut the wire and send me plummeting to my doom at the bottom of this shaft- which is a very risky proposition for me, especially after I have just pretty much given you a direct explanation on how you could turn me into a pile of scrap metal and a red stain on the cave floor."

"I can see your point. What is your second option?"

"I take you with me, back down the tunnel. We both get the Makoki Stone fragment, as I can tell from your change of voice from when I mentioned it that you are indeed familiar with said artifact."

'_No sense in denying it._' "That is true."

"Then, after the Makoki Stone is secured, as the other Toa have already found their fragments- and I really don't want to be the last to arrive at the Great Temple, as that would be a massive embarrassment for me- we both head back up to the surface, at the same time. That way I cover both my bases, and you get out of here and somewhere safe.

'_Seven individuals riding on a Hornet. At least he's not as big as the others._' Clarke waited for the Turaga to speak, once in a while looking down at the gaping blackness beneath them.

"You're not going to give me a choice, are you?"

"Not really. I already can guess that I'd be S-O-L without this safety cord. There's no way I'd be able to lift myself up these ridges..."

"I do not believe that I can make it back down. It took me quite some time to get up to here."

The Lieutenant sighed. "I've wasted enough time here. Either keep going up or come down, just don't cut the line. If you are who you say you are, you won't. And if you are not... well, that doesn't bear thinking about."  
And with that, the SIV began to rappel down again, this time speeding up his descent- letting the coil slip through his hands as he continuously jumped off the wall, his head turned to the side, allowing him to see what lay below.

Less than twenty seconds later, he reached the bottom. There was a short shriek of metal on metal as he activated the mag-pads on his gauntlets- and slid a considerable more distance than he expected. In a smooth motion, his feet touched down, and he equipped his Magnum. Up ahead, there was a glowing light. He started walking towards it, checking around him as he did, making sure he didn't get the cord caught on anything that would cause him extreme pain if he were to be dragged into said obstacle.

Nothing immediately came to his sight- and then he entered the cavern. There was definitely more than enough light to see with, so he shut off his helmet-mounted spotlights. All that separated him from the Stone fragment- as there was nothing else that it could be- was a pit, with a single rocky bridge spanning the gulf. He stepped forward, intending to test the structural integrity of the bridge- and noticed something in the pit. Something moving. Wriggling. He looked around, already feeling his heart sinking. More creatures littered the ground, and were hanging off of the roof of the natural chamber. '_Oh, this is just... just complete bullshit._'

Lekgolo eels. He was surrounded by Lekgolo eels. He remembered what he had read about what had happened during Covenant first contact, what feral swarms of Lekgolo did to Forerunner technology... and from the species identification briefing during SIV training.

What the average UNSC soldier didn't know was that there were multiple sub-species of Lekgolo, each one serving a different biological niche, or bred for different tasks. ONI had recently released a document on a newly-discovered species- the thanolekgolo. Intel with that one was pretty much 'don't even bother touching down, just bomb the site from orbit'. Looking at the individual worms, and the nasty jaws that they had developed... well, this was one of the few times that he agreed with ONI.

They were also attracted to technology. Now, while he was capable of powering down his armor and still maintaining mobility, the locals were unable to do so- and being biomechanical, they were living smorgasbords for the worms. A terrifying image flashed through his head- the Toa being devoured alive by the worms, _Nokama- _the one individual that had shown him nothing but kindness since he arrived-_ being shredded and her individual components disappearing down the maws of the worm-swarm..._

'_NO._'

He lined himself up with the Stone. It would take a solid flat-out sprint to reach it- then a quick turn to come back. He couldn't even use his energy blade to cut himself loose from the tether, increasing mobility... he just hoped that he wouldn't reach the end of the line in mid-dash. He braced himself.

'_Please, God, don't let the worms wake up._'

He moved.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
TUNNEL ENTRANCE**

"He's been gone for ten minutes now. Think he's dead?"

"Onewa!"

"I'm just saying, water-sister. Either that, or it was all a trick, all along- and he's stolen the Stone fragment. Now he's traveling through the caves, hopelessly lost... as a traitor should be."

There was no immediate response- and then the Toa of Stone saw stars. "Throughout his entire time here, he's been helpful to all of us- even through your needless pessimism and constant hostility might make him think otherwise!"

"See? He's driving a wedge through our team! Even when he's not he-"

Nokama brandished her fist again. Before her transformation into a Hordika, flat out physical violence between teammates would have been anathema to her. But now? She actually found it somewhat exhilarating- especially because said teammate was being extraordinarily irritating, and continuously aggravating her- constantly trying to seemingly eradicate any hopes of being true friends- not just battlefield allies- with the foreigner- Lieutenant Clarke.  
"So what if he's different than us? That should not mean we should shun him! If you were a Toa- a full Toa, without any trace of Hordika venom in you- would you excommunicate Matau? Vakama? Nuju? Whenua? What about me?"

"That's differe-"

"No."

Any further words were cut off by a sudden rumbling under the ground, followed by rapid clicking through the 'radio' that the Spartan had given Matau. The feeling of predatory intent suddenly increased by a hundredfold- and the Hornet flew backwards, turning to face the opposite direction- and then rapidly picked up speed. Nokama was already moving- her fight-or-flight response had long since been triggered, and this time the fear did nothing but steel her resolve. She cleared the distance to the other Hornet in less than five steps, climbed into the pilot seat- and racked her mind for the exact combination of switches that she had seen Lieutenant Clarke activate during Matau's three minute impromptu training session.

She flipped three switches on the top of the 'dash' - as he had called the large panel in the front of the 'Hornet' - and turned the dial to the side. The airship immediately came to life around her, it's exotic engines powering up. The end of the cable whipped into view- it had been severed, as if something had bitten down on it. A part of her mind instantly felt weighted with sadness- the foreigner had died down there, some predatory Rahi winding up with a Toa-sized meal, all because her brother couldn't keep his mouth shut- the thought was immediately suppressed, as she turned her head towards the rest of the four Toa standing nearby. "Brothers! Get on!"

The other Toa remained standing still- out of fear, or surprise, she couldn't tell. Fine. If they wouldn't come to her...

The Hornet immediately jerked to the left, careening towards the quartet of protectors- and that jolted them out of their apparent trance. They immediately leaped away- and then came right back, stepping up onto the side 'skids' of the airship and gripping onto anything that they could. The cave started to collapse...

...And something grey, red, and black burst out of the closing maw of the tunnel. Fire spewed from it's back as it rocketed up into the sky. The Hornet easily kept pace with the unidentified being- Nokama being a fast learner as well, and having prior knowledge on how to operate the airship from viewing both the Lieutenant and Matau on the way here. Nuju leaned out, supported by Whenua, as he attempted to get a closer look...  
"It's the foreigner- Lieutenant Clarke! And... he has... Turaga Dume?"

That was another memory- _Turaga Dume being held in the Archives, being left in a sphere as Vahki closed in_... "Hold on, I'm taking us closer!"

Turaga Dume was undoubtedly frightened. He had been near the top of the tunnel when he was launched upwards at rapid speeds when the rope he had been holding onto had suddenly started moving on it's own. Pulled completely out of the hole, he had been dragged across the ground until he had lost his grip- and then came to a stop, still in a cave. His body had hurt all over after being hauled over unyielding stone- and then, after he had got to his feet, something had rushed up behind him and solidly impacted his body. He found himself temporarily airborne, before being hauled off again, two grey arms fastened around his chest.

Now he watched as an airship- a rather unsafe one, judging from it's appearance- loaded up with what appeared to be Rahi flew up next to him, over him- and settled in beside his flight path. One of the Rahi reached out- he recoiled from it- only to watch in horror as he suddenly shifted towards the creature, which grabbed on tight and pulled him close. "Turaga Dume?"

Behind him, the fire went out.

In the space between seconds, between flying and falling, Lieutenant Matt Clarke went through his mental inventory. Interface device? Nothing he could use to fly. Thruster packs? Only would delay the inevitable, and even then, only barely.

He felt gravity take hold, felt the ground draw him towards it.

Jetpack? Burned out. Shielding? Wouldn't save him. Locking his armor? Nope- he'd still be turned into puree upon impact. '_A nice human puree for the worms._'

Maybe if he set his armor's reactor to overload, he would kill a few of the thanolekgolo when they started to feed. It was designed to survive a fall from orbit, after all.. easily recoverable.

Mission accomplished, though. He had retrieved the Stone fragment, and handed it over to Turaga Dume- who is now in safety.

This was it. This was how it ended. He spread his arms, as if welcoming the ground. His eyes started to close.

'_I'm deploying today. UNSC _Infinity_. The biggest ship in the entirety of the United Nations Space Command. Our 'big stick', apparently._'

'_Spartan Commander Sarah Palmer. You must be Corporal Clarke._'

_'_Infinity_, this is Lieutenant Clarke! We're pinned down, unable to retreat to extraction point! We could make it on our own, but the scientists will get char-broiled if they even step one foot out there!'  
'Then leave the eggheads behind.'  
'What?'  
'They knew the risks when they signed up. Get Apex- and the Science Team's intel- out of there safe, Spartan.'_

_'You very nearly got killed down there. What were you thinking, taking on a Covenant armored force like that?'_

_'The UNSC never leaves it's own behind.'  
'Where applicable.'_

'Well, it's official. I guess I have to help you save the Matoran.'

'SPARTANs don't give up without a fight, soldier!'


	16. The Search (4)

**AN: Be advised, this is where the 'M' rating comes into play. Soldiers will be soldiers, after all.**

**CHAPTER 16  
THE SEARCH (4)**

**UNSC INFINITY**  
**IN ORBIT ABOVE FORERUNNER SHIELD WORLD REQUIEM**  
**FEBRUARY 12TH, 2558**

Spartan Matt Clarke walked down one of the many hallways on S-Deck. He flexed his arms, adjusting to the feel of his new armor. It was only yesterday that he had made SR-50, and so was able to requisition specialized GEN2 kit, rather than being restricted to the standard RECRUIT variant. He took a look at the list of capabilities again. Built-in active camouflage, VISR 4.03 for 'protracted survival methodology', integrated thrusters and a jetpack, a hologram generator, some sort of biological regeneration field generator to heal potentially serious injuries and to supplement the suit's own biofoam application systems, faster charging shields, more spaces for extra ammo and grenades, a better reactor to allow for quicker charging of certain armor abilities and less of a wait time before his shields started to recharge, a built-in sensor dampening suite to decrease the risk of detection on enemy VISR-analogues, an enhanced motion tracker, more magnetic clamps to hold more weapons... the UNSC sure had come a long way since the original MJOLNIR project. Most of which was still covered in black ink.

He had asked the technicians as to why the standard SPARTAN-IV didn't get the advanced armor upon signing up, and expected the answer to be because of the obvious exorbitant cost of such a protective suit. The answer was unexpected.

In the case of a rookie SIV being KIA, and his' or her's body unrecoverable, assuming the worst case scenario, the Covenant would only be able to get the basic GEN2 model. Of course, all available assets in local would be brought in in order to make sure it's secrets remained hidden, but it was a security precaution nonetheless. Of course, the various armor abilities and tactical modules were available for requisition- once one got to the proper SR level, of course. And there were some armor variations that were unlocked for use when one was awarded certain commendations.  
It made him sick inside- and the explanation reeked of somebody cutting costs and trying to weasel out of responsibility. Getting into a debate with the technician would solve nothing, though- and the sudden call over the GEN2's comm line overrode any plans he might have been making.

"Spartan-Lieutenant Clarke, this is Spartan Bordeau."

"Ma'am? What's up?"

"New job- we've just picked up a call for help from Requiem. IFF says that it's Science Team Copernicus."

"Copernicus? They've been missing for days! We confirm that it's them yet?"

A sigh. "Guess what Commander Palmer has planned for your team."

"We're the confirmation party."

"Yes."

"Christ almighty. Where are we being deployed?"

"Thirty kilometers east of what used to be Copernicus. The scientist that sent the message said that they've been hiding out in a cave system ever since the base fell to the Covenant."

Clarke reached the armory and grabbed his particular BR85 from off one of the racks. "This is a trap. Please tell me you know that, right?"

"Hey, it's a direct order from the Commander. I can't fight it any more than you can."

"Have you informed the others yet?" The Lieutenant finished checking the BR85 for damage, slapped a SAP magazine into it, and placed it on the mag-holster on his back. Two plasma pistols found their way onto his hip mag-clamps, with a single M6H Magnum joining them.

"Yeah. They're currently in the Pelican, waiting on you."

"Why the hell didn't you say so earlier?" The SIV ran to the other end of the armory, grabbing a M45D shotgun as he passed. If he was going into caves, he was going to damn well make sure he was prepared. Before leaving, he picked out the Promethean Vision armor ability- while he trusted the UNSC's VISR technology, the Forerunner analogue was quite a bit more effective, and he just knew there was going to be cloaked Zealots down in those holes.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT**  
**FREEFALL**

**ASSUMED DATE- FEBRUARY 18TH, 2558  
30 HOURS SINCE ARRIVAL**

Lieutenant Matt Clarke's eyes snapped open. '_No._' If he was to die, it would be on his own terms.  
He triggered his GEN2's thruster packs, slowing his descent ever so slightly. Using the micro-jets, he started to stabilize himself in mid-air, trying to open the interface device and set everything to overload- to turn the armor- and himself- into a makeshift fusion warhead. If it worked like he thought it would, with his fusion reactor purposefully set into critical meltdown- for maximum damage- he could irradiate the entire plain... doom the worms that wouldn't be set aflame to a slow, rotting death...

A large green object rose up beneath him.

'_The UNSC never leaves it's own behind._'

The SPARTAN-IV came down hard on the top of the AV-14, leaving a slight dent, and started to slide off. He frantically reached for something- anything- that could bear his weight, all thoughts of turning himself into a suicide bomb shoved aside, his hands slipping over the fuselage. He fell to the right, the body of the aircraft moving past in what felt like slow motion, his hands extended- and then finding purchase on the two foot-holds built into the skid- and hung there, coming to a full stop. A flare of pain shot through his arms, the Spartan's training kicking in and his hands clenching tighter, fighting against gravity, being the only thing keeping him alive.  
Clarke heard the Hornet's engines roar to full power, heard the chittering of the thanolekgolo beneath him, picturing, in his mind, the writhing ground coming up fast...

A tendril rose up out of the sea of worms and extended towards the attack craft, hundreds of Lekgolo moving as one. It reached out, closing the gap between it and the Lieutenant's legs, the leading worms' maws opening wide... and the aggressive gestalt limb was subsequently dispersed by twin blasts of fire and ice, the eel assemblage being both set aflame and frozen solid at the same time. The tendril collapsed, the affected creatures that were not killed instantly succumbing to primal instincts and lashing out at their own kind.

The pilot of the Hornet took that time to start climbing rapidly as the worms were otherwise occupied. Clarke could feel his armor start to shut down- he could only imagine what sort of damage had been incurred on the suit's power system when he had red-lined the full jetpack system into uselessness. He was in an unwinnable situation- if he tried to lift himself up, the foot-rungs would most likely give way under the weight of his armor. If he remained hanging, though, he would not be able to hold on without power.

'_SPARTANs... don't give up without... a fight!_'

He went with the first option... and was unable to even raise his head above the skid. He felt the hold start to deform under his weight.

'_Not now. Not after all this..._'

An image flashed through his mind. The other Hornet.

"Anybody still on this channel?"

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
150 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL AND CLIMBING**

Communication between the Toa team was... difficult, to say the least. Only Matau, Nokama, and Vakama had the comm-devices which allowed them to converse with each other over the roar of the engines- and neither one of the pilots wanted to slow down at that moment.

Nokama's 'strafing run'- the one that allowed both Nuju and Vakama to attack the worm-Rahi swarm that had risen out of the ground, grasping for Matau's aircraft- had almost ended up with them flying into the jaws of death as well. Three more worm-tendrils had burst from the ground, and it was only some really inspired flying that got them out safe. In all honesty, Nokama had simply jerked the control stick whichever in whatever direction didn't have airborne worms occupying that particular space at that point in time.

The worm-Rahi were relentless- even with all four Toa firing off their spinners as fast as they could charge them, they still barely managed to escape. One of the last tendrils even reached thirty-two bio - a rough estimate after the fact by Nuju - into the air, collapsing just one bio away from the bottom of the airship. After forty-five seconds of the duo of airships ascending upwards, however, the worms just seemed to give up and recoil beneath the ground, now full of holes. Multiple flashes of light later, the holes were gone as well- and that filled everybody who witnessed it with a certain degree of dread.

"What are those things? What are they doing in Po-Metru?"

"I don't know, brother."

"Well, I can say this for certain. They're definitely not friends of the foreigner."

Between the Toa of Fire and the Toa of Stone, Turaga Dume held on tight to the Stone fragment. The strap that Nokama had used to secure herself on the skid on the way to Po-Metru was now wrapped around the Turaga, preventing him from falling off.

Matau's voice suddenly cut through the silence, it's origin point being the 'radio' strapped to Vakama's arm. The Toa of Air's craft flew up next to Nokama's airship, with the Spartan still hanging onto the right-side skid. "Fire-spitter, where do we go now? To the Great Temple?"

"What about the Rahaga? Should they not be warned?"

"That's a ever-long journey-flight, water-sister. We should go to the Great Temple quick-fast, and seek-find the Kanohi that these rock-stones are said to unlock! That way we can be the delivery-bearers of both clear-happy and dark-grim tidings!"

"I agree with Matau. We should finish our task first, then go to Le-Metru and inform the Rahaga. Onewa?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this... I also agree with Matau. Also, we can offload the foreigner there too."

Said foreigner suddenly shifted, his right hand pulling a small piece of metal from the side of the airship as his arm went limp. The three individuals riding on the left skid of Nokama's Hornet could hear shouting- though they couldn't make out the language.

"SHIIIIIT!" Clarke screamed as his right arm hung free. His entire weight was now suspended on his left arm- and if he had torn the right rung free while his weight was distributed between both arms, the left- and final- lifeline wouldn't last long. Already he felt it giving way, becoming malleable...

"HELP! ANYBODY ON THIS CHANNEL, RESPOND!" It was no use. His armor was just an over-sized paperweight at the moment- he had well and truly messed up it's power system. Everything had gone dark- comms, shields, thrusters... movement.

The airship suddenly came to a halt- he felt his body swing forward, felt the rung bend underneath his grasp... he had only seconds before it completely broke. He heard voices somewhere near him- unintelligible, probably because of the translation program being knocked out due to his armor being shut down, though he could identify the speakers just based on the pitch of said noises. Onewa and Vakama. Freaking wonderful.

He started to slip again. He knew this would be the last chance he had- he threw all his weight to the side, trying to bring his arm up- it passed his chest, touched the side of the skid- and the rung broke completely. He fell...

...Though only about ten inches before landing on the top of yet another Hornet, this time draping himself over the tail section. He landed- and came to a stop- perfectly, balanced between both sides, his feet sliding into position where the wings connected to the fuselage. There was just enough room to support him... as long as nobody did any fancy flying.

He heard the Toa talk some more, heard one of them try to address him, probably to ask if he was okay. All he could do in response was mumble a few words- the Toa probably couldn't hear them anyway, given how his helmet was currently pressed face first into the tail structure of the attack aircraft. He tried to raise his arm- give them the thumbs-up- but was unable to shift the armor. It really was dead weight at the moment.

Before he could do anything else, Clarke's eyes rolled back... and he descended into unconsciousness.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
40 KILOMETERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

"Spartan, are you all right?" Nokama queried into the foreign communications device. No response.

Matau had done a fly-by to check up on the silent passenger, only to discover no movement. Onewa had suggested the possibility that the stranger had exerted himself too much- and was now unconscious, or dead. "Preferably the latter," he had said. By this point, Nokama didn't even bother responding to the Stone Hordika's negative comments.

Whatever was the reason, they needed to set down. Not here, though. Back to the foreigner's base- the closest safe spot in Metru Nui, perhaps?

'_Thanolekgolo. How did they get here?  
The dreadnought? I would have known. Aeona did a full detailed scan on it, searching for organic contacts...  
...For Flood signatures. Not all known species. That's how the Covenant detachment managed to escape detection.  
Covenant possessing thanolekgolo specimens? Unlikely. They would have devoured them first._

Hordika.  
The Toa were bitten by spiders- injected with Visorak venom. Guess they got the bad end of the deal- instead of being able to create webbing on demand, or scale up the side of buildings effortlessly, they became werewolves instead.  
Why is that even still a thing? Didn't that comic series start somewhere in the 20th century? Also, the Hordika don't even have fur- would they even be called werewolves?  
Concentrate, Matt. Visorak venom causes Hordika mutations. Hordika mutations are apparently nasty shit, according to Blue. Water Lady. Nokama.  
Mutations. Random reconstitution of DNA.  
516.  
Oh. Shit.

Visorak venom... reconstitute at random... giant insect creature.  
Two Mgalekgolo- one of which was bitten in half by the insectoid monster...

...Lekgolo Hordika = thanolekgolo?  
...shit.

'

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU - GA-METRU BORDER - PO-METRU SIDE  
72 KILOMETERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

The trip was quite silent. The Toa's Hordika nature did not appreciate being suspended so far above the ground on comparatively small slats of metal. Turaga Dume was quiet for a different reason- the few glimpses of the skyline of the city filled him with immeasurable sadness. What had happened in his absence?

The Turaga glanced to both sides- though without moving his head. The Rahi around him looked somewhat like Toa- horribly twisted mockeries of Toa. For a second, he wondered if he was trapped in a nightmare, and that this would all go away when he woke up.

Down below, the massive Visorak-constructed siege-wall stood firm. Flying Rahi moved above it in synchronized flight patterns. Once again, the Hornet was far enough up that it evaded detection- Nokama had figured out how to turn off the lights, though that involved far more trial-and-error than she would have liked.  
A few kio back, she had discovered how to utilize the aircraft's weapon systems- like everything the soldier had, it, too, had it's own armament, which appeared to be a smaller form of the massive projectile cannon she had operated before. She now kept a respectful grip on the control stick- gripping it too tight would cause the weapons to fire, and she was still uncertain of how they worked- they might take energy directly from the craft itself to run the weapon system, and if she used too much...

The airship was handling itself quite well, though. While not as fast, or- most likely - as durable as the larger model that the foreigner had possessed, which had been destroyed during their rescue of Matau and Whenua, it was more than capable enough of carrying almost the entire Toa team, albeit with them very much exposed. As a teacher, the details on how the craft operated interested Nokama- and being the one at the helm gave her the opportunity to contemplate it.

As she observed before, there was no trace of protodermis in the Spartan's technology or equipment, which had it's own interesting connotations. Matoran science had shown that everything around them was made of protodermis- even their own bodies were constructed of the same material. It was an integral part of their world... so having an individual show up with non-protodermis technology in a two kio long airship- which subsequently fell apart and the majority of which had plummeted into the Silver Sea- was quite a surprise. Nokama half-wished that the Spartan had showed up back when the city was unspoilt by the Visorak, and the population was not contained within sleep-inducing spheres... and then thought about that particular scenario in depth.

The airship had shed a decent amount of its structure as it had passed over the city. Now, the streets were empty, and the only things that would have got hurt by said falling objects would be Visorak and the odd Rahi. But back when the city was active... that would have been different. It would most likely also be called an unprovoked attack- which would be understandable from the point of view of the Matoran. The Spartan would have been confronted by Vahki, rather than Visorak, upon emerging from his pod... his 'welcome' to Metru Nui would have gone just as expected there. The Vahki were not known for their negotiation skills. From there, he would have been brought to Turaga Dume... and if 'Dume' would be Teridax, that would have been the end.

As for if Dume would be the real Dume- in a perfect world, that distinctive thought should have been unneeded, but this was not a perfect world- the Lieutenant would have been banished from Metru Nui without a second thought, because of the sheer disruption that the over-flight and the crash of the airship would have led to.

The spot of land that was now taken up by the structure that the foreign warrior referred to as 'Wingbase' used to be home to a protodermis purification plant, as well as a school... if it had occurred while the city was still active, the loss of life incurred... Amaya, Kailani, and Kotu, all Matoran who worked in the area, crushed beneath an enormous chunk of metallic not-protodermis...  
For a scant few seconds, Nokama could understand why Onewa was suspicious about the foreigner, and constantly tried to warn them about him... then remembered something the soldier had said while they were resting after the 'defeat' of the Zivon...

'_"Hey, both times I had just been shot! You try controlling stuff that have had critical damage inflicted on it!"_'

The Toa of Water took a sharp breath in realization. Something had brought down the Spartan's multi-kio-long airship. The 'Covenant' he had mentioned earlier? And with it having taken 'critical damage'... and falling apart like it did...  
The crash was unintentional. Turaga Dume would evict the Spartan from the city, even as he was on the run from said 'Covenant', and the whole thing would have been a complete accident. Nokama, not knowing what she knew now, would have been completely supportive of the action...

The Covenant bodies she saw in the destroyed camp... they didn't perish in the crash. Which meant that they would still have been alive had this happened in pre-Great Cataclysm Metru Nui. While she had no doubt that the Toa Mangai could bring them to heel, the death toll that they would rack up in Ga-Metru in the short term- if they were as hostile as the Spartan had said, of which she had no reason to believe otherwise- would be horrifying.  
'_Twenty billion plus individuals dead or missing._'

There would have been even more outrage after that- Teridax - and maybe even Dume - would have spun the blame to rest solely on the head of the foreigner, for bringing an invasion force to Metru Nui. Teridax would send some of the Toa Mangai to apprehend the 'enemy'... and if he had got back to his own people by that time, the results of trying to capture him would be disastrous. The people of 'Unra', as he had called his home, did not hold back in conflict. The Toa Mangai, on the other hand, had pledged themselves to uphold the Toa Code- even during the Dark Hunter war against Metru Nui.

And all because of what would have been an enormous misunderstanding.  
It was better for all involved that this happened during the Visorak invasion.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

*BRAAAAAP!* "Oh. Excuse me... not!"

"You want to turn everything into a testosterone-fueled competition, Marty?"

"Of course not. I would hate to offend someone's feminine sensibilities."

"Just because I'm not a belching jock like you doesn't mean I'm less of a man, Sergeant!"

"Riiiight. Tell me, Staffie, you ever hit that?"

"...What?"

"That prime piece you have for a co-pilot. You two ever bake some cherry pie together?"

The other Broadsword pilot - First Lieutenant Zachary Plotz - let out a laugh, before reclining backwards on his chair. "We got nothing to do- that recording of that fembot suggested that we just sit back and wait for the little lost Lieutenant to find his way home."

"Bullshit! We should be out there looking for him, LT!"

"Hey, Plotz! Did thi-" *BRAAAAP* "-this staffie just try to give you an order?"

At that moment, Nate knew he had made a mistake. Plotz was downright sadistic if he felt like he had been wronged. The First Lieutenant sat up, some form of twisted smile crossing his face. "Say, you want to go looking for him? Well then, go ahead. The door's just a kilometer away, after all!"

Both Broadsword pilots descended back into mocking laughter as Nate backed down. '_Fine. They can go and get drunk. Goddamn jockstraps._' It was just proof of the fact that the universe was not a kind place. Lots of respectful men and women had died on and around Reach- and later, Earth- but, for some reason, those two jackasses managed to pull themselves out of the fire and survive. And not because they were cowards- they fought until their Sabres had completely expended their ammunition, then went to reload as fast as possible.

Hell, Marty- Command Chief Master Sergeant Milton Martinez- nearly escaped from an Anchor station as it was shot to shit around him by two Covenant destroyers. What later popped up after the battle was over, and the two were booking it back to Earth on a Marathon-class cruiser, was exactly how he had managed to escape. Marty had cut through a fleeing group of civilian craft- shredding them with his Sabre's autocannons- while he flew free of the station in a plume of gas, plasma, and immolated bodies. Just because they were barely in his way.

Any other pilot would have been thrown in the brig afterwards, if not directly spaced- but just because Marty had also inflicted grievous losses against the Covenant fighter craft, he was regarded as a hero by the cruiser's captain, and the footage from his Sabre's black box was subtly swept under the rug afterwards. Only Marty, Plotz, Captain Brunsfield, and the technician who had handled the black box knew of it.

When they got back to Earth, the remaining brass had received the revised version of the two Sabre pilots' accounts, and had ended up handing both of them promotions. The technician felt horrible over what he had covered up, and had sent a copy of the information to one of his friends, a Longsword pilot in Altfield's squadron. The cruiser had then been lost with all hands during the First Battle of Earth, against what they knew now to be a Covenant recon fleet led by one of their 'prophets'.

After the First and Second Battles of Earth, that pilot had signed up to go along with the UNSC expeditionary force through the portal generated by the Excession... but before going through, she had sent a high-priority message to Altfield, detailing exactly what she knew, and the recording as well. She didn't come back.  
Nate had known that, at that moment, it would not be conductive to everybody's survival if they started pointing fingers - and weapons - at each other, so he buried it.

In his locker on Infinity, there was a single data chip. On that chip was a list of crimes perpetrated by the duo- which had only grown in the years since- and proof of their actions. By this point, bringing it forward would probably turn ONI's gaze of death on him - there was some shit about the unlawful shootdown of multiple Sangheili craft full of civilians that were trying to evacuate an active warzone, with- who else but- Marty being the trigger-man on it. ONI had buried that and buried it deep- but it had become unearthed somehow, about the same time as that 'Ben' fellow was outed as an Insurrectionist trying to sabotage the Master Chief's image on live TV.

Nate inwardly chuckled. '_If they ever got back to UNSC territory, both Plotz and Marty would be ruined. Somebody would have uncovered that drive, plugged it in, and discovered everything. I can only pray that the individual that did so will bring it straight to Captain Lasky._' He had a copy, though. A copy of a copy, placed in his Longsword's 'beer box', as his former commanding officer had called it. He didn't survive the Second Battle of Earth, either.

Too many dead good men and women. Where was the justice?

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
EIGHT KILOMETERS FROM UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

"We'll drop off Turaga Dume and... Lieu...tenant... Clarke at the safe zone for now while we go retrieve the Mask of Light. After we have the Kanohi, we'll bring it to the Rahaga, and inform them about what is going on in Po-Metru."

Nokama could barely hear Onewa's return comment- probably yet another remark against the Spartan for simply existing in the city- and made a mental note to confront the Toa of Stone about why he had such a dislike for the 'foreigner', as he called him.

After a few more minutes of flying, they reached the area that the Spartan had called 'The Deeveezee'. A flight of metal Rahi- '_Sentinels_,' she reminded herself- ascended to greet her. She heard Onewa's voice over the radio again.

"Brother, relax. They won't attack us. They didn't before, at least." She heard the slight undercurrent of worry in Vakama's tone- the last time they were here, Clarke had been conscious. Now..?

The Sentinels broke off and descended back to building level again. Evidently they were still allowed in. Nokama wondered if Onewa understood the significance of that- that the Spartan trusted them enough that they could enter at any time.

"I never want to give-hand this airship back!"

Nokama sighed. "Matau, they are not ours to keep. As useful as they are, they belong to Clarke." Calling him by his name was easier than referring to him as 'the Spartan' or 'the foreigner'. "If he would be responsive right now, you could ask him. But as he is not, it would only be respectful if we were to not use that which belong to him without his permission."

Onewa stated in no uncertain terms what he thought of that idea. A part of the Toa of Water sympathized with Matau- in the few hours that they had been able to fly the 'Hornets', as they were called, they had made excellent time- also, they were able to evade the multitude of Visorak patrols clustered around Po-Metru, which would have been impossible on foot. And if they were to have been detected near the wall itself... not to mention the worm-Rahi that had emerged from the ground after they had recovered the Po-Metru Makoki stone fragment. Without the airships, they might not have made it out of there in one piece.

**THREE MINUTES LATER**

The hangar bay doors had been shut tightly- there was no way to get inside. Flying the airship was one thing, but she had no idea on how Clarke had opened the massive gateway in the first place, let alone how she was going to.  
The only thing she could think of was to put the airships down near the hatch that they had used to enter the base. It was better than leaving them on the ground. Matau's craft came down first, bouncing a few times before grinding to a halt. The Toa of Air leveraged himself free of the pilot cabin, and looked on sadly at the Hornet, a glum expression on his face. For the past three hours, he was able to be a test pilot again- and this time, the vehicle he was 'testing' had survived- a first in his career.

Nokama's craft was next- and her landing was far more graceful than Matau's. For one, it didn't bounce, and neither did it scrape to a halt. Nuju and Whenua immediately set themselves to bringing the Spartan down from his position on the top of the airship. A cursory examination showed that he was still breathing- though the complete darkness of his armor would have indicated otherwise. Vakama was busy with Turaga Dume, informing him that the preferred course of action was to stay with the stranger, as it was safe here- the Visorak wouldn't be able to reach this position. The Turaga appeared to still be in shock, and was led away to the hatch.

Remarkably, it was still open- the Spartan had either forgotten to close it, or had purposefully left it open after that impromptu demonstration of using Rhotuka as propulsion devices. "He's left us an entry point too. What do you say about that, Onewa?"

In the process of setting the Spartan down in the immediate hallway after the entrance hatch, he had regained consciousness. It was there that they had realized that the Kanohi was probably broken, as he could no longer understand them- and vice versa. After a minute of trying to communicate, the Lieutenant had tried to stand- only to fall right back over again. All of his previous agility seemed to be gone. The device on his arm still worked- still translated- though he could barely lift said limbs to type out a message.

**'sorry  
combat ineffective  
proceed with mission'**

Nokama nodded, then realized that Matau was probably going to overreact if she didn't ask him a specific question.  
"Can we take your airships to the Great Temple?"

It took another two-and-a-half minutes for Clarke to respond- less than ten seconds of which was taken up by the interface device translating for him. A message was eventually sent back.

**'yes  
you break them, you buy them  
DO NOT break my Hornets'**

The Toa of Water sighed with relief- they wouldn't have to walk everywhere now. "Thank you, Lieutenant Clarke." The soldier remained slumped against the wall as the device translated her words- then suddenly shifted, looking up towards her. A large smile was on his face, and his arm started to raise up, extending towards her, the hand both partially open and in a fist- and then it dropped again. His eyes filled with disappointment as they glanced around at his disabled body. He spoke in his foreign dialect again, this time apparently directed at himself. The device remained inactive.

Nokama nodded, then left. She had seen enough.

The rest of the Hordika had already climbed out of the base. The Po-Metru stone fragment was taken from Turaga Dume- somewhat forcefully as well, Nokama noted with irritation. Vakama was trying to explain why they looked the way they did. Dume had evidently had an experience with the Visorak before, but didn't seem to be entirely convinced of the Toa being... well, Toa.

Matau was already in his particular airship- the Toa of Water had a feeling that he had jumped right back in once the others had gone inside. He stood crouched over the control panel, watching her with narrowed eyes. The female Toa wondered if it was a combination of Matau's Hordika side and his own 'career' as a test pilot that made him possessive over the vehicle.

It would not do to provoke a confrontation. The rest of the Toa walked past - letting Nokama shoulder the burden of coaxing the Toa of Air out of the airship. She put on a disappointed face- much like she would have to correct one of her students, back like when she was a teacher- and began to stride towards the occupied craft. As she approached, she noted her brother's behavior. Matau was visibly struggling with himself- on one hand, he obviously didn't want to anger her... but he also didn't want to leave the airship, and his Hordika side was also a factor.

Less than three bio away, she turned around on her heel, accelerated, jumped into the air, and landed next to the other airship. Gracefully climbing in- though sitting down in a semi-comfortable was harder, as the craft wasn't exactly built for one of her size and overall shape- she closed the canopy behind her, turned the 'Hornet' on, and then looked up with a grin.

Across from her, the Toa of Air sat stock still, his jaw wide open. It took a few seconds for realization to kick in- she saw the exact moment in his eyes when it sunk in what exactly what she did meant- and then a flurry of activity unfolded with the other 'Hornet'. Even though Nokama had turned hers' on first, Matau was the first one in the air, with an expression of pure unaltered elation on his face. The other Toa had varying reactions. Onewa displayed something akin to a smirk- he was lucky he wasn't one of her students, with the way he picked on Clarke, who would have been equivalent to an exchange student...

Nokama took off as well, flying past the group on the ground and landing nearby. The rest of the Toa rushed up as she shut down the engines and opened the canopy.

"I thought you said we had to give these back," Vakama stated, with both a grin and a frown on his face.

"Not anymore! We get to hold onto them for a while longer. We just have to make sure not to let them get too damaged."

Onewa scoffed. "I don't see why we're letting this foreigner give orders to us on our own home soil. What's stopping us from just taking them and sealing him up in some cell in the Archives?"

Everybody stopped and looked at the Toa of Stone. "Because we're Toa. Not thieves, not Dark Hunters, not Makuta. Toa," Vakama forcefully stated, a hard note in his voice. "I know you are suspicious of this stranger, but he has helped us out so often that either he is the worst double agent in the world, or he is actually an ally- and you're purposely alienating him. This is not how a Toa should act."

"And why should I listen to you, cross-wired fire-spitter? It was your brilliant plan that got us captured in the first place... twice! First it was 'Ohhhh, find and gather up the Great Disks! Turaga Dume is sure to recognize us as Toa then!' And then Nuju, Whenua, and I were trapped in a prison cell by the Vahki, all because of your 'vision'."

Vakama's head descended. From a straight-on point of view, it would appear that the Toa of Fire had dropped his head in shame... but from Nuju and Nokama's point of view, they could see the crimson Toa's hands and jaw clench as he fought an internal battle.

It was akin to watching two large transports crash. One was there, witnessing it... but could do nothing to stop it.

"And then you took us through multiple mazes of horror, one filled with sea creatures and a Matoran who could possibly have, at one time, been crazier than you. And the other one was crammed full of even worse monstrosities, straight through Makuta's lair, where we almost lost Nokama, were choked by vines, and very nearly got dunked in energized protodermis. Even that wasn't as bad as that plan when we got back here!"

Vakama's temper was about ready to blow. Somebody had to do something- and that was Matau, who came down almost directly behind Onewa, causing him to leap to the side, overbalance, and fall over. "Hey! Are we quick-soaring to the Great Temple, or continuing to loud-talk about past-late events?"

Onewa looked like he was about to say something, but Nuju cut him off. "Yes. Of course." He strode forward and stepped onto one of the skids on Nokama's aircraft, sitting down in the seat there. "I'm ready. Anybody else going to come along, or do you want to argue about that as well?"

Almost silently, the rest of the Toa piled on. Onewa stalked over to Matau's Hornet and sat by himself. Both VTOL craft took off shortly afterwards.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
GREAT TEMPLE APPROACH  
SIX MINUTES AFTER LEAVING WINGBASE**

Normally- for a certain degree of 'normal'- the Toa would have landed near where the bridge connected to the mainland, but every second counted. Both Hornets flew over the bridge, following it towards the Great Temple. What would have been a lengthy sprint was turned into a less-than-a-minute long flight. The airships came to a halt a few feet from the entrance chamber, and the four Toa riding on the skids leapt off, already starting to head inside. Onewa was at the fore of the group- and then in a split second, he was airborne, then back on the ground. The same happened to the other three Toa, with Vakama being knocked around from three different points of impact before being punted over both aircraft and landing in a heap more than twenty bios away from the pair of Hornets.

Matau had nigh-on immediately set to climbing out of his airship as soon as it had touched down- probably to recover the Mask of Light as fast as possible, so that they could be in the air yet again- and after seeing two-thirds of the former Toa Metru knocked down or out, tried to reverse course in the middle of disembarking. Not surprisingly, he fell over.

Nokama jolted into action. First, her eyes found her fallen teammates, which were already starting to get back to their feet. Then, darting down to the control panel, she flipped on the aircraft's lights, illuminating the entrance chamber. Three minute figures greeted her vision, recoiling due to the sudden burst of light. Three guardians.

The Toa of Water, however, didn't feel a pressing need to discern where the creatures' real bodies were, and not just the illusion. She tapped her 'radio'. "Matau, tell the others to get behind you!" She could barely hear Matau's reply- her vision was already beginning to turn crimson as the Hordika side rushed to the fore. Her analytic mind, however, held it back. Even with six Toa against three guardians, they couldn't risk anybody being ganged up on and beaten to a pulp.

The Visorak thought that they had barred access to the Great Temple. Nokama was about to correct their assumption. As soon as Nuju and Whenua had dragged the Toa of Stone behind Matau's aircraft- against his will, as Onewa was all for the idea of charging in and tearing the guardians to shreds- her Hornet took off. She gripped the control stick- her fingers found the specific groove that gave underneath pressure- and squeezed.

The front of the aircraft lit up as the twin projectile cannons discharged, their ammunition being launched across the gap and cutting into the three creatures waiting for them. A cry rose- then was cut off as something huge fell to the ground, becoming visible a few seconds later. The Water Hordika moved the aircraft to the right, sweeping the front door of the Great Temple and catching the other two guardians in the stream of unknown metal.

Nokama only ceased firing when the last illusion was dispelled by the actual creature's demise. The walls of the entrance chamber were pockmarked with holes. She let out a shuddering breath, the Hordika mentality retreating back inside her- waiting for the next harvest of spiders. What really disturbed her was how good it felt- shredding her enemies from range as they had no way to hit back. Matau had finally squeezed back inside his aircraft, and it too was in the air... though it was too late, as there was nothing else to hunt.

Nuju had gone back and checked on Vakama. The only thing seriously injured was his pride. Both aircraft came down to land, their pilots climbing out. At first, Nokama was given a wide berth, but when she inquired about as to why they were doing so- with an odd smile on her face, which was probably intentional- they stopped and closed back in.  
The group entered the Great Temple.

A Suukorak emerged from one of the ancillary towers. There had been a slight amount of fear when the Gate Guardians assigned to the defense of the Temple had been so easily dispatched, though now that the airships had been abandoned- though there was no visible individual guarding them, the white Visorak knew from experience that the not-Toa that the Hordika had allied themselves with was capable of cloaking itself just as well- if not more- as a Roporak.

It blinked, then began the descent into the Great Temple proper. Eight other Visorak- a combination of Keelerak and Boggarak from Sidorak and Roodaka's respective honor guards- awaited it. It knew of what the presence of such meant- if it failed to bring victory this time - and survived the battle - it would be summarily executed by being sent to the Field of Darkness.

Down below, the Hordika were placing the stone fragments- the fragment that it had failed to guard- into matching slots on some sort of raised platform. A section of the nearby wall opened. It was time. It gave the signal.

The Visorak kill-team descended.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
EDGE OF 'DEAD VISORAK ZONE'**

Two Kavinika wolves crossed over into the DVZ, attempting to play tug-of-war with a long metal pipe with a box at one end. Both Rahi were sent running out of the DVZ by Sentinel warning shots- if they had been on the 'hostile' list, they wouldn't have had the chance. The metal pipe was scanned and revealed to be a UNSC M68 Gauss cannon, usually vehicle-mounted, but in this case...

An Enforcer Sentinel hovered over it, picked it up with it's gravitational clamps, and proceeded to bring it back to the UNSC command post.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
GREAT TEMPLE**

The Mask of Light had no sooner been revealed before the area was filled with Rhotuka spinners. Vakama ducked behind a pillar before returning fire- which the targeted Boggarak dodged. Nokama and Onewa were pinned in separate locations. Nuju and Whenua had also got into cover, and were able to strike with no fear of instant retaliation- though the Visorak were able to dodge most of their shots, or use their own spinners to knock out the inbound attacks. And Matau...

The Toa of Fire looked around. Matau was gone. And so was the Mask of Light. A sixth spinner joined the light show, it's origin point being near the entrance.

It was sheer chaos- the Visorak had the majority of them pinned down, unable to move without being hit. It was only a matter of time before the Visorak managed to get into an advantageous position- they owned the high ground, after all. The Toa of Fire spared not a second for that line of thinking- he would not allow his team to fall again.

The Boggarak he had been shooting at finally jumped the wrong way and was caught by Onewa's spinner. The spider fell, landing with a heavy thud on the floor of the Temple. Five left.

'_These ones aren't fighting like standard Visorak_,' Whenua thought to himself as his Rhotuka launcher was cooling down between shots. '_They're not taking risks, they're using cover as well..._' A speck of movement caught his eye- two more Keelerak flanking them from behind. He immediately alerted Nuju to their presence, and shifted to cover that direction as well.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
GREAT TEMPLE BRIDGE GATE**

A multitude of different-coloured eyes glittered in the darkness. Sidorak was not so foolish as to believe that nine Visorak could defeat the Toa- even eight of the best of the Horde leaders' honor guard. He had ordered a second force to be ready to hit the occupied Toa with overwhelming force.

The only sound that the Visorak made was the clicking of their claws against the ground as they moved forward. Thirty Vohtarak and Oohnorak took the lead, with a mix of other species of spiders forming the main body of the army. Two massive Kahgarak - Coliseum Guards - strode behind the force.

In all, one hundred and twenty-four spiders stalked across the bridge.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
GREAT TEMPLE INTERIOR**

The situation had deteriorated. The Toa Hordika had become split up- Matau, Nuju, and Whenua had managed to escape with the Mask of Light, but attempting to get out the same way was now downright impossible, due to the three Boggarak in position to cover the entrance hall. Vakama had been hit by a Suukorak spinner and subsequently trapped in an electrified web. The Keelerak were vicious- even with two of their number gone, they wouldn't back down, but instead increased the tempo of their attacks.

Onewa found it quite interesting that the Visorak were able to launch the ambush so effectively once the foreigner was no longer with them. However, mentioning that in front of Nokama would only serve for him to get hit again. '_The foreigner had done something to her- corrupted her somehow. All of his team had fallen for it- could they not see that he was a threat?_'

Nokama sprinted across the gap between her piece of cover and Vakama's. One of the Keelerak pressed its apparent advantage- straight into the path of Onewa's own spinner. The impact knocked the green Visorak off of it's perch towards the unyielding ground below- and a follow-up spinner buried it under a pile of rocks.

One Keelerak left. It continued to fire off it's Rhotuka, melting holes into the three Toa's cover. However, one Visorak was not enough to keep two different positions suppressed- and Nokama took advantage of that. Taking a quick glance, she fired off a pre-charged spinner, which the spider dodged- and with it's aim thrown off, Onewa was able to take the shot. Just like the previous Visorak, that Keelerak was sent flying- and then crushed under a rock.

There was still a Suukorak around- and two of the Boggarak started moving from the entrance hall towards the three Hordika, to keep them pinned in place. Their cover wasn't going to last for much longer.

Onewa tore Vakama free of the electric net surrounding him. The attack had fried the metal box he had wore, turning it into useless scrap. Nokama was already talking over her own box, instructing Matau- if he were still around- to pick them up on the bridge between the southwestern tower and the Great Temple proper. Matau's answering voice lifted their spirits- only for the words to sink in.

"Bad-worse news! Ever-ugly Visorak reinforcements, close-approaching ever-quick!"

Nokama wasted no time. "Matau, we need you to pick us up! You know where to find us- we'll be there as fast as possible!" Dodging from cover to cover, they started to head for the stairs- every so often stopping to return fire at the two Boggarak. And all the while, they remained wary of the hidden Suukorak.


	17. Pilots

**CHAPTER 17  
PILOTS**

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

Lieutenant Clarke felt helpless. There was the brief moment of fear when he was immobilized, and surrounded by wer- Hordika. He now had a healthy respect for their self-control, as they could have decided to end him at any point. He wondered if the thought had even occurred to them.

He tried to stand up again- and only succeeded in rolling over. A growl of frustration escaped his throat, and he tapped his hand against the floor... which was technically the wall, but he already had a headache from the punishment his body had taken during the rapid acceleration in an unsealed suit.

A voice came from a spot more than five meters away from him. He didn't recognize it, but given how he couldn't understand what it had said, the owner of said voice was obviously a local. He ever-so-slowly turned his head to check- it was the individual he had seen earlier when he was going down into that cave... which really was like jumping into the jaws of death after all.

The individual watched with narrowed eyes. Right. He had pointed a weapon at the back of his head. Couldn't help but be cautious... though '_He?_' didn't take it all that well. Clarke could understand- he wouldn't like that either. The two watched each other for a few minutes before Clarke tried to get up yet again- and then went straight back down.

-

Dume frowned. It was like watching a Rahi try to walk after coming out of stasis- something that he had bore witness to multiple times, most of which followed right after Nuparu had shown him some new invention he had made. He wasn't about to get too close- he remembered being threatened down in the tunnel.

Now he watched as the armored warrior started to crawl away from him... or attempted to do so, though even that was apparently quite difficult. This was ridiculous. He wondered where the Toa Mangai were, and how they could allow the city to become so dilapidated... though given how it had fallen to the Visorak, it didn't bode well for their survival. '_No. That couldn't be. Lhikan would never be defeated by simple Rahi- not even the Visorak._'

Though it wouldn't be the first time. Lhikan's first assignment as a Toa was to guard a fortress with a very important relic in it- the same Makoki stone that had been broken apart, and now reclaimed yet again. That fortress had later been overrun by Frostelus, with Lhikan as the only survivor. And before that, there was the Toa Cordak, who fell in battle against a Zyglak swarm. Once again, only one survivor, though Dume could not recall his name at the moment. '_Could the same fate have befallen the Toa Mangai?_'

More clunking noises drew his attention back to the warrior, who was still attempting to crawl down the hallway. A thought occurred to him- if the stranger hadn't picked him up before leaving the cave, those worm-Rahi would have engulfed him as they burrowed upwards... and he didn't want to risk finding out what they ate firsthand. The Turaga approached cautiously. If there was a problem with his armor, perhaps his Kiril could help. He would rather finish any debts the stranger might think the Turaga owed it.

He waited until the warrior had stopped moving- and started talking in some form of unknown speech, though it was not directed towards him- then quickly darted in- as fast as a Turaga could move, anyway- and touched his hand to the supposed southerner's armor. Power flowed from his Kanohi- though nowhere near as powerful as it was back when he was a Toa- and into the strange steel that apparently made up the majority of the stranger's body.

-

A few seconds passed. Clarke had heard rapid footsteps behind him, which ceased near his lower body. He held his breath, knowing that there was absolutely jack nothing he could do.

And then his armor came to life, the fusion reactor powering back up. Power flowed through previously-damaged circuits- now somehow repaired- and the Spartan found that he could move again without straining himself to even lift his hand, let alone stand up. He quickly rolled over and sat up, watching as the local stumbled backwards. "W... what did you do? How?"

"You can speak our language?"

'_The translation program is working properly again. Hot damn._' "Yes, though you can thank Vakama for that." '_And Aeona..._'

"Vakama? The Ta-Matoran mask maker?"

"I've never actually seen a Matoran before... he said he was a Toa, though."

-

'_Vakama? A Toa? And what does he mean by 'never seen a Matoran before'? Metru Nui has a population of thousands! What has happened in my absence?_'

The southerner- he had to be from one of the far southern islands, from the unexplored lands- was already moving away. He turned back towards the Turaga. "You coming or what?"

"Who are you, exactly?"

The stranger sighed. "Spartan-Four Lieutenant Matt Clarke, UNSC _Infinity_, Apex Lead, I hail from the land of 'Urna', ally to the Toa of Metru Nui, and am currently impatient to get to anything that even remotely resembles a medical bay and run a full diagnostic on my armor. Are you going to stand around here or will you be following me?"

-

**TEN MINUTES LATER**

Turaga Dume was lost. The southerner had off and disappeared, running at a speed well in excess of that which a Turaga could achieve for long periods of time. They had made so many turns that he could not be sure of where he had entered in the first place.

He had seen just how large the structure was when the airship had turned to land. If he continued walking aimlessly, he would never find his way out. At several points, odd flying Rahi had come up to him, staring at him with a single glowing eye, then flying off. He knew not what they were doing here, though given how their design matched the structure's, his guess was that they were either maintenance or law enforcement automation, similar to Metru Nui's Vahki.

'_That was another sight that had been missing- the Vahki! What had happened to them?_' Lost in his own thoughts, Dume continued to move onwards, in the direction that he thought would bring him back to where he entered.

-

Clarke had opened his interface device. If it had a direct connection to his armor, he didn't have to get to a medical bay. Hell, he didn't even know if Wingbase even had a medical bay, or if that was somewhere on the ocean floor at this moment. What he saw was not encouraging.

The power distribution system had been repaired, and the reactor was running at full capability- no damage had been incurred to that, thank God. Comms were active, as expected- though now looking at it closer, he noticed that the comm system had been damaged way back when he had been ambushed by those camouflaged Vohtarak.  
However, everything else had been scrammed. Active camo, thrusters, shielding, top back and hip magnetic clamps... everything. To fix those- especially the shielding system- he would have to take the entire armor apart and rebuild it from the ground up. And that just wasn't an option. He wasn't a MJOLNIR technician. The two armor ability attachments he still possessed were capable of working, but the system that allowed the armor to actually use said attachments had been fried as well. To conserve power, he slowly switched off the affected systems.

The jetpack had been more or less completely melted. He was lucky it hadn't detonated- if it would have continued running, it most likely would have. At that moment, it sank in- he was a liability on the ground. 'Well, I said I was going to run transport for the Toa after their current mission was done- and now they have their own aircraft, so they don't even need my direct assistance with that.' That freed him up to do more important stuff... like find the biggest damn bomb he could safely deploy without destroying the city in the process and proceeding to nuke the thanolekgolo creeping around in Po-Metru.

But first... time to head to the 'mess hall' and get something to eat. There had been a command console in that room- he could possibly access Wingbase's inventory there. He proceeded to start running again, this time knowing exactly where he was going.

-

**FOUR MINUTES LATER**

Clarke finally had reached the 'mess hall'. He pulled open the interface device, pressed the combination of buttons that unsealed the hatch, and waited as it cycled open. As soon as it was more than halfway done, he slipped inside, turning towards the command console dais- and froze.

Four humans were staring back at him. In the few seconds between realization and action, he scanned the group for identification. If his visor were still active, he could have read their IFF tags- assuming they were UNSC, of course. The second closest individual was wearing a pilot BDU, with the symbol on his shoulder indicating that he was a staff sergeant. A woman wore the rank of Corporal, UNSC Marine Corps. The other two humans at the table were in various stages of undress.

Time resumed- or they finally reacted to each other's presence. Clarke immediately raised his left arm and triggered his interface device's shield, which spun open with a bright flash of light and whirling colours. Both the staff sergeant and the corporal raised their arms in a gesture of 'we surrender' or 'we're allies, don't shoot'. The other two, however, stood up- and one immediately went back down, apparently tripping over something.

The other aggressor grabbed at his hip- reaching for a weapon that was obviously not there- before picking up the chair upon which he sat and charging at the Spartan. The sheer absurdity of it gave him pause- and also because he knew that the improvised bludgeon wouldn't break the shield. As expected, the UNSC-issued folding chair did absolutely nothing- with it actually bouncing off and setting the attacker off balance. Clarke didn't give him a chance to recover, charging forwards and slamming the flat surface of the shield into the man. Something triggered inside the shield, and a pressure wave launched the assaulter across the room, to come to a sliding stop near the opposite wall.

The other one had apparently pulled up his pants- the SIV blinked at that- and ran towards a cot set up against the wall. Three alcohol bottles surrounded it, of which the aggressor picked up one of them and threw it at the Spartan. Clarke deflected it with his arm shield, then looked over at the other two individuals. "Who are you?"

"Staff... Staff Sergeant Nathan Altfield, UNSC Air Force..." "Corporal Daimia Blake, UNSC Marine Corps, honorary co-pilot..." Both were said at the same time, but Clarke could understand enough.

"And these other two guys?"

"Walking jockstraps."

"..."

Sgt. Altfield elaborated. "Broadsword pilots for the UNSC Air Force."

"Ah." '_Hope I didn't hurt the other one too bad._' "The asshole throwing lager at me, what's his name?"

The female - Corporal Blake - answered. "First Lieutenant Zachary Plotz. The other one is CCM Sergeant Milton Martinez."

Clarke nodded his head. "Thank you for the information." He turned to Plotz- who had just retrieved his sidearm... a M6D hand cannon. "Lieutenant! Stand down!"

The pilot- who had just flipped off the safety- paused. "Who are you, you son-of-a-bitch?"

"Hey hey hey, that's my mother you're talking about! How about we all just cal-"

"Point still stands, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"SPARTAN-I-V-Three-One-One, Fireteam Apex Lead. Lieutenant Matt Clarke."

"Spartans don't have ranks, you lying sack of shit!"

"Yeah, always thought that bit was bullshit anyway, so I went through officer training as well."

"Where you based out of, shitstain?"

"UNSC Infinity, S-Deck. Come on, you should have known that!" 'You stupid idiot,' Clarke thought to himself, 'just put down the damn gun. I don't want to hurt you.'

"How do I know you're telling the truth? You could be a Covenant spy!"

"334-1518-9273-MC. Serial number. Run it."

"We already tried to connect to Waypoint, the chatternet, everything. Nothing goes through. Plus, how do I know that you haven't killed the real Lieutenant Clarke and taken his armor?"

'_What the... the dude's insane! Though launching his wingman across the room probably didn't help..._' Clarke turned his attention to the other two UNSC personnel in the room. "You might want to leave."

Corporal Blake's eyes widened. "You're not going to kill him, are you," she squeaked.

"Wha- no! I just don't want you to get hit by ricocheting bullets."

SSgt. Altfield stood up, and directed his gaze at Plotz. "Sir, I think he's telling you the truth."

"Shut up, staffie!"

"Hey! Lieutenant!" After Plotz had brought his attention back onto the SIV, Clarke continued speaking. "Here's some proof for you! You deployed alongside my team- Fireteam Apex- against a direct order to retreat from the artificial planet called Requiem, which was on a collision course with it's star. We went and captured a few Forerunner ships. The last I saw of your craft was when I jumped out of the back of the Pelican- Strongarm-54, for added detail- en route to the same dreadnought we are now standing in."

He paused, allowing the crazed Lieutenant to process the information. The end of his pistol dropped almost imperceptibly.

Clarke resumed. "After we took control of the Forerunner craft, we started to leave the shield world. Thing was our clock was more than a bit off, so we almost flew into the star before we could get out, so we did an emergency slipspace transition. Now, I have no idea how you got here, but I popped out of slipspace somewhere south of this island-city and barely escaped the dreadnought before it flew into the ocean. As you can see, the wing structure broke off, and flattened quite a decent amount of beachfront property. Now, if you don't mind, can you lower that pistol, or is that still not enough for you?"

The First Lieutenant stood firm for more than a few seconds - '_Fffffff... just put it down already!_' - before the pistol finally descended. Clarke waited until the pilot had put the safety back on before he acted. He burst into motion, closing the distance between him and the potential threat in less than four seconds- just enough time for the Air Force Lieutenant to raise the pistol again, to squeeze the trigger- forgetting, in his haste, that he had put the safety on.

The Spartan-IV dropped the shield and swung his left arm, catching the pilot on his wrist, shoving the gun off to the side. His follow up move was to grab the First Lieutenant by the throat - his lack of a shirt made it hard to do anything else - with his right hand, while using his left to pin the pilot's arm to the wall. He figured Plotz was only being careful- but he couldn't leave himself exposed to attack. "Release your weapon. Now."

Plotz snarled something back at him- the translation program popped up, but Clarke couldn't turn his head to check it. "Listen, chucklehead! The both of us are on the same side here- but you currently having access to a weapon does not seem like a good idea at the moment. Drop your pistol now!"

He heard the thump- the M6D hitting the ground. "Good. Now, I'm going to release you. Your first act will be kicking the pistol away, towards the table. After that, you will sit down here, on this cot. Got it?"

The pilot gave him his version of a death stare- but it barely came close to his grandmother's version, to say nothing of Nokama's. "Go shove it up your own ass, shitstain!"

"Wrong answer." The Spartan proceeded to bodily lift up the pilot and bring him down on the cot. "Now, you're going to stay right here until... Sergeant Altfield tells you otherwise. This is a direct order from your superior officer. Don't even try to weasel out of it, flyboy." He released his hold on Plotz, pushing himself away from the crazed individual. "And if you don't, I'll throw your ass in the brig."

That death stare again. Clarke matched it, trying to copy the Toa of Water's. He evidently didn't have all that much success, as Plotz suddenly smiled. "You know what, Lieutenant? I think you've been telling the truth!"

"Order's been given, First Lieutenant Plotz. Sit down and shut up." The Spartan kicked the pistol out into the room- and once far enough away from the Air Force Lieutenant, bent down to pick it up. When his head came back up, he looked towards the command console- and only then realized what was on it. "Sergeant Altfield?"

The staff sergeant jolted, the expression in his eyes changing from some sort of vindication to wariness. "Uh-yes? Sir?"

"You were playing poker?"

"Strip poker, sir."

'_That explains why the other two pilots were so aggravated._' Out loud, he said, "Good game?"

"Was taking them for all they had, sir. Marty over there very nearly lost his Broadsword to Daimia- anything to prevent having to take off his boxers, it would seem."

Clarke ejected the M6D's magazine, and racked the slide to get the single round out. The magazine was dropped into one of the compartments on his armor, to be secured later on in the armory. "Probably glad I came in when I did." He gently placed the pistol on one of the chairs.

"Oh yeah."

A shrill squeak came from across the room, followed by the sound of a hard slap. Corporal Blake gone to check on CCM Sgt. Martinez's condition. Both Altfield and Clarke crossed the distance almost instantly- the Spartan being a second earlier to arrive.

Sgt. Altfield was the first to speak. "What happened?"

"He... I bent down, was checking to see if he was alright. He..."

"What did the bastard do?" The amount of venom in Altfield's voice was surprising.

"He... he groped... pulled me down, kissed... urgh." The corporal moved backwards, putting distance between her and the downed command chief master sergeant. Altfield reacted purely on principle, delivering a brutal kick to the fallen pilot's groin. "You sick son-of-a-"

"Hey!" Clarke immediately interposed himself between the two pilots, pushing Altfield back. "Calm down! I don't want to have to put you in the corner as well!"

"Murdering bastard deserves it!"

"Calm yourself, Staff Sergeant! We are not animals, we are UNSC military personnel! We will not fall into infighting!"

"If you knew even half of the shit this asshole has done-"

"I will not repeat myself a third time, Sergeant! Check on Corporal Blake, make sure she's okay. Just... stop with the aggression." '_There is absolutely no way I can afford to deploy these people in the city. Sergeant Altfield and Corporal Blake are alright, but Plotz? Or Martinez? I can't trust either of those two for CAS. If Aeona were here- actually here, and not just her copy- that whole fight would have been unnecessary._'

Altfield snorted in disgust- then walked off towards Blake. The Spartan turned to face Martinez. "I will not tolerate that sort of shit under my command. You're damn lucky that I have some degree of self-control in me, otherwise I would have you thrown out of this ship so fast that you wouldn't even notice the change in scenery."

"I-" The CCM drew in a breath, his arm draped across his chest. "I'm a goddamned war hero, tin man."

"Really? What theater you serve in?"

"Reach. Earth. Draetheus-Five. Requiem."

"So you think that just because you've killed a few Covies that every single woman out there is fair game, whether they want it or not?" '_By God, if he answers yes..._'

"Heh. That and free alcohol. Speaking of which, your stash is shit." As if on cue, he let out a large burp- then clutched his chest in pain. "Anyway, it wasn't as if Staffie was ever going to pork that cute little blo-"

A solid white blade coalesced ten centimeters from the CCM's head. "I would endeavor to forget what you were about to say, and never even think of coming back to that thought."

For a second, Martinez's eyes widened, then he spoke again. "You're not going to kill me, tin man. As I said before, I'm a goddamn war hero!"

Ten seconds passed, with both the CCM and the Spartan staring at each other. '_Absolutely no way I can trust these two._' Clarke deactivated the energy blade and stepped away. He was going to be the better man- not shed the blood of his fellow soldiers, no matter how phallic their personality. However...

He bent down and grabbed Martinez by the ankle, then lifted him up. "You're going to have to lie down somewhere else, chucklehead!"

-

**ELEVEN MINUTES LATER**

"...And that's all that's happened so far. Recap over."

"...Wow. Let it never be said that Spartans are cowards, eh?" SSgt. Altfield lifted his bottle of water, took a sip, then placed it back on the floor. "They sure are shit at cards, though."

"Never played before," Clarke looked around him, witnessing his absolutely crushing defeat- and the two Broadsword pilots confined to the corner of the room, now wearing savage grins. He turned back to the table, keeping the two potential rogue officers in his peripheral vision. "Now, Michaelson? He would have taken everything you had."

"Well, downright anybody could have done better than you. Never thought I'd see a Spartan lose his armor at a poker table."

Clarke blinked, then spoke with his officer's tone, his posture becoming rigid. "Now hold on one minute, Staff Sergeant. All I was doing was simply taking it off as per the rules of the game- you're not keeping it, so I advise you to correct that assumption." He leaned back, relaxing again. "Plus, everything I took off is pretty much busted anyway."

Corporal Blake, standing off to the side, wielding a heavy repair tool scavenged from SSgt. Altfield's Longsword's repair cabinet, wore a cocky grin. She had been in charge of stripping off the SIV's GEN2 armor, piece by piece. There were three sections that she was ordered not to mess around with- the helmet, the ruined jetpack, and the left arm armor. She also couldn't do anything regarding the undersuit, so it wasn't technically 'full' strip poker.

There had been comments from the peanut gallery when the Lieutenant had revealed that he had allied himself with local militia- and even the Longsword crew reacted with some degree of alarm. Clarke had reassured them, saying that the UNSC's secrets were still safe. "If you ever meet them face to face, and they inquire as to where your homeland is, just say that you're from Urna, an island far to the south."

Martinez' follow-up comment had cemented the idea in the Lieutenant's mind that there was absolutely no way that he could deploy them in the city. Though, given the sheer amount of alcohol bottles strewn around the room, the two pilots might perhaps be hammered out of their minds at the moment- and that this was not their typical behavior. Clarke queried SSgt. Altfield on the matter. The response was not enthusiastic. "Those two? They're always like this." He leaned in close- and so did the Spartan. "And if you even knew half of the shit they pulled, you would probably throw them out of the base right now."

"The UNSC doesn't leave it's own behind. Even if they are absolute knuckleheads."

The staff sergeant looked as if he was going to say more, but then changed the topic. "Hey, so these were-warriors you met up with... when you say they had strange powers, what did you mean by that?"

"Directed elemental energy weapons. Yes, I know, it makes nigh-on zero sense, but that's what I saw. Each of them had a different ability- fire, water, air, ice, rock, and dirt. Though the way they channel said energy is quite limited- they have these back-mounted weapon emplacements. They seem to be grown directly into their organic bodies, which is why I originally thought that they were some sort of alien biomechanical creation, like our own drones, only far more advanced. However, from what I've been able to put together, they have their own culture, their own civilization... and, as I said before, they're on a rescue mission. Civilians."

First Lieutenant Plotz spoke up. "They can just toddle off to hell. Why should we have to do anything to help them? Let's just lock ourselves down, wait for evac, then drop a beacon and let ONI handle this place. That, or take it for ourselves."

The SIV was dumbstruck. He glanced between the two members of the Longsword crew. "Those two chuckleheads... do they take lessons on how to be gigantic phalluses, or were they just born that way?"  
Corporal Blake was the first to respond. "Bor... born that way, sir."

"I see," he shifted himself around, now facing the two Broadsword pilots. "Point number one: we need allies, especially in this post-war period. Their infantry tech is quite incredible, if they were to utilize it with no restrictions." He had told the group about what the various spider breeds were capable of- which had varied reactions with the group. "Even though they don't have spacecraft of their own- as far as I can tell- they make up for it in ground-based technology.

Point number two: what better way to find out about said technology, and potentially establish full diplomatic ties further down the line, than actually talking with the locals- helping them out when they need it."

CCM Martinez opened his mouth to speak- and was immediately cut off. "I'm not finished yet, pilot. Shut your hole before you say something truly stupid- not like you haven't already.

Point number three: we have no capability to wage full high-intensity warfare in this city. Even if I were to push the Sentinel factories to their maximum extent, all that we would do is secure about three quarters of Ga- and Le-Metru. Any further and we overextend our forces, leaving gaps in our defensive lines where the Visorak could push through. A lot of shit got scrammed in the crash."

First Lt. Plotz looked like he wanted to say something, but Martinez shot him a look- and the two went silent.

That said, Clarke turned back to the Longsword crew. He rubbed the back of his neck. "I hate to ask this, but do we have anything we can use to restrain them? For some odd reason, I don't want them to have access to the armory, nor be able to fly out over the city. I've done some serious work earning the locals' trust, and I do not want those two chuckleheads to undo everything I've accomplished in a blue-on-blue inciden... shit!"  
The Spartan immediately jolted into action. "Pack up the cards, now!"

The card game disappeared quickly, the command console being cleared of all obstructions. The SPARTAN waved his hand over the Forerunner interface device's surface, and it's radial menu popped up. The Lieutenant tapped out a code on it. Shortly afterwards, the command console flared to life, lines of energy running up to it, and a piercing blue display unfolded over the console. The two Longsword crew members pushed themselves backwards in surprise. A faded image of Aeona appeared- the small piece of her left behind to continuously cycle the rescue message. "Aeona?"

"Emergency Alert: This is UNSC AI Aeona, identification number AEN-441-8190-4902. Requesting rescue. Hostile forces present on local landmass. UNSC survivor on board- SPARTAN-I-V-311. Defense perimeter set up. This beacon is pre-recorded, and will continue to repeat at specific intervals. Requesting rescue."

'_Of course. It's just a goddamn recording.'_ Clarke continued working on his interface device, opening up Wingbase's communication systems, running the translation program- which had, at some point during his sprint to the 'mess hall', apparently finished incorporating the local language into it's own database. It had also done some extra work with the mask- there were some other languages within it's 'coding'-analogue, so to speak. Those other languages had been studied and added to the translation program's database as well.

The 'Rau' had done it's job well- but now the translation program had rendered it unnecessary. All the Forerunner technology needed was a little nudge in the right direction. Clarke proceeded to make a copy of the data, then uploaded it to Wingbase's own systems. From there, it could be downloaded onto any GEN2 or equivalent armor- but the real objective in doing so was to allow for communication over any device in range, with no translation problems to be had.

The Lieutenant opened a new comm channel, matched it's frequency with the radios that they had been utilizing, then activated it. Almost immediately, a voice came over the line. "Matau! Where are you? We need you to pick us up now!"

Well. That couldn't be good. "Thi-"

"Hold on, water-sister. I'm here. Had to quick-dodge Visorak spinners."

"Stop showing off and just land, Matau!"

Something had gone wrong. "This is SPARTAN-I-V-311 Lieutenant Matt Clarke calling out to any friendly forces in the vicinity, requesting a situation report!"

"Mata Nui! That startle-frightened me!"

"Spartan? Where are you?"

"Back at base. The short fellow I found in the caves hel-"

"Never mind. Matau, we're on board, take off!"

"Here quick-goes nothing!"

There was a short whoop- and then silence. "Nokama, Matau, Vakama, respond." Nothing. "Any Toa on this frequency, sitrep now!"

"Hah. Looks like those local militia weren't so tough after all. Bet you feel like a complete idiot for even bothering. Can't save 'em all, tin man!" Both Plotz and Martinez chuckled at the latter's comment.

Clarke gripped the sides of the command console, wrestling his anger back down, forcing himself to remain as calm as possible. It would not do to lash out, as much as the two chuckleheads might deserve it.

'_First Aeona, now the Toa..._' and with them gone, the civilian population of the city was doomed, as he himself had nowhere near the amount of force needed to take the city's core from the spiders, hold it long enough to get the population out- which could be anywhere from hundreds to thousands- even with both Broadswords and the Longsword giving him close air support, and then successfully retreat back to Le-Metru... where he couldn't even get inside the Tower in the first place. And Ga-Metru was way too close to Po-Metru and the menace lurking beneath the surface of that district.  
'_And those two assholes can only sit and laugh._'

"Ever-sorry for the long-wait, we just had to quick-fast get clear of the Spirit-Temple. Ever-too many poison-Rahi around."

'_Huh?_' Clarke's head shot back up. "Sitrep, now!"

"What?"

The SIV let out a short sigh. "Situation report- what is going on out there?" As he spoke, he was already pressing buttons on the interface device, trying to pull up the patchwork sensor grid that Aeona had apparently managed to establish before he set out with the Pelican. Evidently, it hadn't fared well during the time period that he had been out- the majority of the grid had been knocked out, with only two districts still having any coverage- and even then, there were bits and pieces missing of the outer edge. And he didn't want to flip on the dreadnought remnant's active scanners- the ONI report had mentioned that the thanolekgolo subspecies were attracted to technology, and if he were to light up Wingbase...

"Where are you, Matau?"

At that moment, Nokama's voice came over the line. "Matau, focus on flying. Spartan, we've just left the Great Temple. The Visorak set a trap, we had to improvise. We lost one of the... Hornets?"

'_They... what?_' Across the console, the Longsword crew looked at him oddly. SSgt. Altfield was the first to speak. "You gave them UNSC property?"

"I lent it to the-"

"Alien collaborator! I knew it! See? He's betrayed the UNSC! Probably been an Innie this entire time!" CCM Martinez crowed, already getting to his feet. Plotz was faster.  
"As the second highest officer in this room, I place you under arrest for crimes of high treason against Earth and the UNSC," the UNSCAF Lieutenant stated, smugness in his tone. "Would you like the 9- or the 7.62mm treatment, shitstain?"

Clarke knew he had disarmed them of any weapons aside from their fists, and one SIV- even out of armor- against two pilots was still an unfair matchup. "Lieutenant Plotz. CCM Martinez. Do not make this mistake."

"Who are you talking to? Clarke?"

"Met some people at Wingbase. Didn't know they were here. Two of them are full-on chuckleheads."

Another voice came over the line- along with a scuffling noise, followed by a "Hey!" from Nokama. "So, you admit to-?"

"Onewa." The SPARTAN had had enough. "If you're going to say something against me, I'm going to cut that shit off at the pass right the hell now. I have enough to deal with at Wingbase without your goddamned negativity shitting all over any sort of friendship I am trying to establish."

Corporal Blake suddenly pointed behind the SIV, and shouted, "Look out!"

"Mata Nui! What was that?"

Clarke turned his head to the right, where the Marine corporal had pointed. He only had a second's warning before the folded-up cot collided with his back, shoving him onto the console, smashing into the hardlight display. It was like colliding with a brick wall. The color of the solid hologram immediately changed from blue to dull yellow.  
A hand grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him backwards- straight into a solid hit to the side of the face by First Lt. Plotz. The Broadsword pilot reached forward and grabbed for the SIV's chin- and watched as a brilliant blue-white shield flared to life and smashed into CCM Martinez, who was quickly approaching from the other direction, sending him flying across the room to land against the wall. Plotz had to let go and jump backwards as the shield changed into a sword and swept towards his legs.

Both combatants gained some degree of distance between them. Clarke spat out a tooth and some blood- there was still some degree of a headache pounding in his skull.

"You goddamned race traitor! Selling out UNSC property to filthy xeno scum!"

Nokama had evidently gained control of the radio again. "What's going on over there?"

"Shut up, alien b-"

'_Opening achieved._' Clarke came in low and fast, aiming for a quick debilitating strike- something that wouldn't cause too much damage. The blow connected- driving the air out of the pilot's lungs and causing him to fold forward, his eyes bulging. Plotz had just enough energy left to try for a strike against the Spartan's neck- which was interdicted, and responded to with another hit, this time to the side of the UNSCAF officer's body. The SIV hooked his foot behind the combatant's leg and pulled him off balance, flipping him onto the deck.

Across the room, CCM Martinez started to rise, before charging again- and then stepping on the shattered glass of the alcohol bottles that Plotz had tossed at Clarke earlier, which had been swept to the side. The CCM's battle-cry shortly turned into a noise not unlike the squeal of a hog. The pilot himself continued to move forward, through the pieces- though that could have been his momentum, and not any actual choice on his part.

Clarke simply extended his shield and walked forward a few steps. Looking to his right, he saw the two Longsword crew members having two very different reactions. Corporal Blake looked sick, her face green. As for SSgt. Altfield, he just had the appearance of a man vindicated- as if he were witness to something that should have been done a long time ago.

A sudden hit to the back of his knee caused him to swerve off balance, his shield coming into contact with Lt. Plotz- who had apparently got back to his feet in the time that the SIV had diverted his attention from him, Clarke having made the assumption that Plotz would have chosen to stay down lest something really bad happen to his bones or internal organs. This time, Plotz got to take a trip through the air, smashing into the wall in his corner of the room and coming to a rest on the floor.

CCM Martinez, however, had no such issue- and the Spartan's back was now wide open. Clarke tried to move his shield back into position, but it was too late- the pilot impacted low, entangled himself with the SIV's legs- causing the both of them to fall over, and then followed up- faster than Clarke had expected from a pilot- with a brutal uppercut to the Spartan's groin. For a second, perhaps two, Clarke was disabled, his mind sent reeling in his agony- plenty of time for Martinez to yank a bloody shard of glass from his foot, grab Clarke by the neck, and prepare to bring it down on his face- the SIV barely managing to catch the offending limb in time.

Gasps of air escaped Clarke's mouth as the pilot tightened his grip. The shard continued to descend, ever so slowly, towards his eye... and a gunshot rang out. The CCM lurched to the side, releasing his grip on the Spartan's neck, collapsed on the ground, and reached down towards the bloody stump that was all that remained of his left foot.

The shard was still in his hand- he was still armed- and then Corporal Blake charged in, stomping down on the rogue sergeant's hand, driving the piece of glass deep into the skin. She spun in place, landing a second blow to the chucklehead's groin area- then shifted her weight to that particular leg. It was too much for the man to bear, and he passed out, his eyes rolled up.

SSgt. Altfield moved to cover her, keeping his confiscated M6D aimed at the CCM. A groan from the opposite side of the room alerted them to Plotz getting back up. '_What the hell is with this guy?_'  
Clarke sat up as well, motioning for the Longsword crew to keep 'Marty' covered.

"Clarke? What's happening? Are you okay?" The Toa of Water sounded truly concerned- but he couldn't spare time to answer her. Not while there was still a threat to deal with.

The Spartan calmly strode up to the UNSCAF Lieutenant. "You know, that tooth had been bothering me for quite some time. Thanks for helping to get rid of it." Plotz looked up, a dumbstruck look on his face- and then the SIV threw a semi-restrained haymaker punch, with just enough force to knock the pilot unconscious. In that, he succeeded. The First Lieutenant went down in a heap. A quick check revealed that he was indeed still breathing.

"And as highest ranking officer in local, I place you under arrest for mutiny," Lieutenant Clarke gasped out, grasping the pilot by the ankle and dragging him towards his buddy. "Staff Sergeant Altfield? Corporal Blake? Please find something we can use to tie these assholes up."  
The Longsword crew was quick to leave, heading for the hangar- to hopefully find something to do so.

"Hello? Far-warrior? Are you still alive-well?"

After Plotz had been dumped on top of Marty's unconscious body- deliberately- Clarke moved to stand near the devastated leg of the CCM. "It won't do for you to bleed out on us, Marty. A few days of solitary will probably do you some good, allow you to think about what you have done." He knelt, moving the leg away from the rest of the two pilots' limbs. "Now, this may just hurt a bit..."  
He activated the plasma torch.

-

Nate and Daimia were halfway down the hall leading to the hangar bay when the screaming started. Cpl. Blake visibly flinched, and shuddered. SSgt. Altfield barely blinked. "How can you be so callous when one of our own is being tortured like that?"

"Martinez? He's... I'll show you something that I should have when we first met- what I should have shown Captain Lasky when I got assigned to _Infinity_. Marty is a scumbag of the highest order. He's had this shit coming for a long time."

"I just... why do we fight amongst ourselves when there are far bigger threats out there?"

The screaming died down again. Silence settled upon the base.

-

Turaga Dume was hopelessly lost. Everything was just more of the same- more exotic non-protodermis material, more twists and turns- and then the bellowing of some Rahi in intense pain echoed through the passageways. For a second, he was reminded of the legend of a mutated Kane-Ra guarding a maze of tunnels- and the tale never ended on a good note for the poor Matoran that were said to get lost in the labyrinth.

He continued to draw upon his resolve, his determination- his experiences as a Toa. If he could get back to the Coliseum... perhaps there was something that he could do.

-

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
CAVES**

The Gestalt forced it's mind- it's will- on the Taint. Both sides were struggling for control of the All-Devouring Swarm- which had regressed into yet another 'civil' war. When the Taint rose up to pursue the surface-dwellers and their flying morsels, the Gestalt remained behind, consolidating his hold on the lekgolo left behind. Even as the Taint grasped for it's food, it's rear-guard fell under the Gestalt's control.

Now both sides were devouring each other, both mentally and physically. On the physical side, the Taint had more than enough maws to go around. However, on the mental side, the Gestalt had the advantage- the Taint was all primordial hunger, nothing more. At certain points, the Gestalt was able to force the Taint to turn on itself, it's colonies succumbing to madness and devouring the wriggling creatures next to them. It was at that point that numbers were a curse- and yet, it still wasn't enough to guarantee victory for the Gestalt.

Finally, the vestiges of the Whole Colony were knocked down to a single hive, and even that began to shrink. The numbers were just too many- the Gestalt felt itself being torn apart. It felt fear- and in that emotion, one single spark of intelligence gave it a final plan. With it's remaining mental capacity, it slammed into the Taint, overwhelming it- if only for a moment- and directing it to seek out, and attack, the Calls.

Were it not for the initial Call and it's effect on the Combined Colony, the Gestalt might have been able to suppress the Taint. As one final act of defiance, it attempted to burrow free, under the Swarm- and fell straight into a pit of more worms. At the last moment of it's 'life', it had been outwitted.

With the Gestalt gone for good- the last remnant of it sliding down the gullets of a thousand worms- the Taint was free. Free to hunt down the Calls- and then to indulge it's hunger. The All-Devouring Swarm began to split into two massive Tendrils.  
The Hunt began.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT**

The Visorak had started to establish their own defensive fortifications around the DVZ. A spire was nearly finished construction on top of what used to be one of the dreadnought's right wing storage compartments. Right Wing Armory #3 had also been used as a base for yet another spire, which was halfway complete in comparison to the one being constructed upon Right Wing Storage #3.

As more systems inside Wingbase were repaired, a number of non-essential areas near the 'bottom' of the base were converted into Sentinel manufacturing facilities. A few decks in the underwater section of the wing were flooded with the odd liquid that made up the ocean surrounding the island-city, and pipes were constructed to pump the liquid straight to the assembly decks, where it be reconstituted into material that could be used to construct Sentinels, or to help with repairs.

A few local fauna were sucked into the pipes as well- the system barely spared a second thought for their fate as they were also rent down for raw materials inside the reclamation factories.

A new set of parameters were uploaded from Wingbase to the Sentinel forces within the DVZ. While the Forerunner constructs' targeting ledgers could not be altered, other systems could be changed- such as the limitations on how far the automatons could expand.  
As one, the Sentinel forces on the edge of the DVZ begun their expansion assault. The nearest Visorak garrisons had been expecting an attack- especially due to the Horde's movements towards the Great Temple- and inflicted a semi-effective toll on the initial attack wave. Once the Sentinel Majors hit, though, the spider forces found themselves losing ground rapidly, as the upgraded Aggressors tore through their ranks. Enforcer Majors were brought to bear as well, their heavy artillery cannons disrupting Visorak formations- and unlike the basic Enforcer model, the upgraded heavy Sentinel was equipped with full-coverage shielding.

The battle soon reached the 'storage spire', as it had been designated. The Sentinels continued to advance, temporarily isolating the trapped spiders from the rest of the Horde, and keeping them suppressed with standard Aggressor probing assaults. After a certain point had been reached, the Sentinels stopped their expansion attack, having forced the Visorak to retreat- to rout. Now was the time to consolidate their new-found gains.

All standard Aggressors within both the offensive and defensive forces descended upon the encircled spider spire, entering it from as many openings as possible to overwhelm the defenders with sheer press of numbers. Destroying the spire itself was not part of their instructions- instead they were ordered to obliterate the Visorak force inside, and take possession of the structure. Already, Constructor Sentinels were under mass production, which would be used to fortify the spire- and begin the process of turning it into a proper forward operations base.


	18. The Enemy of My Enemy

**CHAPTER 18  
THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY...**

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

After a few minutes of trying to talk through the communication line- still watching the two fallen pilots, both of which were now lying on the cot again, just in case they would attempt to get up and come in for another attack run, and this time, Lieutenant Clarke wouldn't hold himself back if they would be stupid enough to actually do so- the Spartan opened up the interface device and discovered that the outgoing comm signal had been set to 'mute'. '_Well. That was slightly embarrassing_,' he thought as he flipped the option back to 'transmit'.

"This is SPARTAN-I-V-311, anybody still on this channel?"

"Far-warrior! You became silent-quiet for a long-while there, what happened-occurred?"

"Met some of my people back at base, Matau. Two of them took offense to my decision to let you have UNSC property that was technically not mine to lend out... even though I did capture it back from the Covenant. Anyway, they engaged me in combat. I won."

There was a short intake of breath on the line. "You kil-"

"No, no, Nokama. Hell no. Merely knocked them out. Though they probably wouldn't have extended the same mercy to me." The Spartan sighed. "I'm currently looking for some room I can lock them down in- I do not want these two chuckleheads loose in the city."

A muffled voice came through the line. "...not as good... thought, water-sister!"

Clarke figured he knew who the speaker was. "I can say this with honesty. I'm glad that you met me instead of LT Plotz and CCM Martinez- they're sure as hell not as nice as I am."

"...how...we know... that he... deceiving us..."

The command console pinged. The simulation was complete. The SIV pulled the simulated scenario up, and viewed the results.

At maximum effective production, he could establish one-hundred-percent effective Sentinel coverage over seventy-two percent of Ga-Metru's total area with the assembly decks within Wingbase, and twenty-seven percent of Le-Metru with the Sentinel factory bunker set up outside the 'Tower of Toa'.

The vast majority of systems within the dreadnought had been knocked offline by the single strike from the supposedly-captured Fortress, and the crash did no favors either. Compounded onto that was the fact that this was only the dreadnought's wing, and the Spartan felt lucky that anything still worked at all. He scrolled through the console's menu until he reached the 'status update' option, and selected that.

Three large wireframes popped up, along with a cloud of smaller objects. The left wing superstructure was completely greyed out- a note underneath it read 'Damage sustained: 100%', and underneath that was '**COMPLETE STRUCTURAL FAILURE**'. '_So much for the left wing..._'

"I apologize for my brother's behaviour, but after this occurrence, his trepidation is not unfounded. While we have no reason to suspect you of being untrustworthy, if some members of your people have malevolent intentions-"

"I understand fully, Toa Nokama. I'm no good to you in my current situation, anyway- my armor is completely FUBARed, and I need that if I want to participate in any sort of infantry combat. Even grazing shots from Visorak attacks are potentially crippling, if not full-on fatal. However, I possibly have another way of helping..."

As the SIV spoke, his fingers flew over the interface device and the command console's menu, putting the wireframes off to the side and checking on the sensor array that Aeona had previously set up. The screen slowly coalesced, initially showing what the sensors on the dreadnought's wing was capable of by itself- which gave him a view of the Ga-Metru district, along with forty-five percent of Ta-Metru and thirty-two percent of Po-Metru. "And... that's disturbing."

"What?"

Like maggots swarming over a creature's corpse, twenty-nine percent of what he could see of Po-Metru was alive with dots. So many dots that they all sort of blended into one big massive blob. "Yeah. Don't go near southern Po-Metru. It's downright infested by the worms."

"Speak-tell us something we don't already clear-know, far-warrior."

Additional pieces of Forerunner technology came to life throughout the city, adding patches of clearer scanner coverage to the overview. The dreadnought's main body had apparently lost nearly half of it's external sensors as it passed overhead, along with who knows what else.  
Most of what he could detect was inactive or completely broken, and had been gathered into piles. Due to the large clump of life-signs on top of each cache of Forerunner tech, the Visorak had apparently incorporated them into their haphazardly constructed buildings.

"I have turned on Wingbase's sensors- though they are only capable of low-power mode, due to damage sustained during it's crash. What I see in Po-Metru... yeah, they're everywhere. I can't spot all of Po-Metru, though- just along it's borders. I do have sensor readings of the Coliseum, though-"

"What can you see?"

"Just a big ol' blob of dots. If those are all Visorak... well, I'm glad Norik advised that I not travel through the Coliseum. That's... that's freaking suicide." A thought occurred to him. '_If the Visorak are using that structure as a command post... oh no._' "Hey, Nokama..."

"Hmm?"

"The mission objective is to rescue the Matoran, correct? Just wondering, but where are they being held?" Over the comm channel, he heard Onewa shouting "Don't tell him that," followed by a long delay of silence. The comm line shut down from their end.

'_Well. There I go, shooting myself in the foot. Especially after that little mutiny._' He looked towards the two unconscious pilots, his hands clenched into fists. '_Those two bastards shit on everything I was working towards._' Violence would not accomplish anything here. Once again, he forced himself to calm down- deep breaths, in, out, in... "Focus on something else. Established territory. Yeah. That."

An oval line appeared on the sensor grid, marked as 'G-M-DVZ', surrounding a fairly sizable portion of the Ga-Metru district. Another oval popped up around the 'Tower of Toa', designated 'L-M-DVZ'. A dotted line surrounded each of them, indicating how far the next expansion phase would secure additional areas- and a countdown measuring out the time necessary until the expansion phase would begin.

And then... movement in Po-Metru.  
The now-active Forerunner scanners that had been salvaged and incorporated into the Visorak's towers along the Onu-Metru - Po-Metru border showed the blob of worms starting to separate. They were splitting into two distinct groups- and he didn't like the possible explanations as to why they were exhibiting that behaviour.

-

UNSCMC Corporal Daimia Blake was currently not a happy individual.

She had chosen to be the one to rummage through Echo Two-Five-Nine- Marty's bird- in the hopes of finding restraints for the Broadsword's own pilot. She wouldn't put it past him to be into that sort of thing, especially given the comments he had made in the Forerunner vessel's 'mess hall' after copping a feel.  
So far, she had come across a few knick-knacks that she didn't really want to dwell upon for too long. Most of them were arcane symbols, two of them were mummified rabbit legs... creepy stuff, but otherwise not helpful to her current situation, nor what she was looking for to complete her assigned mission.

And then she felt a small line at the base of the pilot's seat. Tracing her finger along it, it ran nearly the entire width of the front of the chair, and then traveled downwards, touching the floor. A hidden compartment. There was also a tab at the top center of the compartment, which she theorized could be used to gain entry. She flipped it up, revealing an indent- and then paused.

This could be anything. Hidden weapons, an explosive device, or some macabre storage of body parts. For a few seconds, Daimia's mind ran wild with possibilities- and then cleared. She was a Marine medic, a witness to death and destruction, a healer of wounded soldiers, not some scared child. She backed out of the cockpit for a second- checking to see if Sgt. Altfield was nearby, which he wasn't- and then crawled back down into the confined space.  
Steeling her nerves, she stuck her finger into the indent, and pulled.

The compartment slid out with the hiss of escaping air. It's contents were all of what she imagined, though perhaps not in the form she expected. There was organic material- leather. Lots and lots of leather. And steel- she could see the hilt of a dagger in the well-organized items. '_Figures that bastard would be this kind of person._' The contents were certainly explosive- had they been discovered by someone on Infinity, Martinez would have been in serious trouble.

She backed out of the cockpit- the word now having a very different connotation- and stood up on the chair. "Sergeant! Any luck?"  
There was no reply at first, and then SSgt. Altfield's head poked around the side of the Longsword. "Nah. Plotz's bird has nothing, except a single can of lager. Was empty too."

"I got something." Corporal Blake smirked, reaching down and selecting an item at random, and pulled it into view, holding it between two fingers, as far away from her body as possible. "And they're not going to like it."

SSgt. Altfield's eyes grew wide, and a grin slowly worked it's way across his face. "Yeah... I wouldn't either."

"Got anything we can use to carry the rest in," she asked. "A box, or something?"

"Won't find anything, but I'll check!" The Air Force sergeant started to head back inside the Longsword, but snapped his fingers and turned around again. "Speaking of which, there's something I want to show you."

"What is it?"

"Martinez's sins."

-  
**  
METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
VISORAK CONTAINMENT WALL**

The Tendril exploded out of the ground with a hunting screech, pouncing on the Visorak patrol in front of it. There was no time to react- the worms tore them apart within seconds before diving back beneath the surface. A variety of Rhotuka landed in and around the area where the thanolekgolo had emerged and subsequently descended again, inflicting some degree of damage on the exposed thick black cord-like assemblage.

The same scene repeated itself throughout the entirety of the southern border of Po-Metru. The thanolekgolo were steadily chipping away at the supports of the Visorak's quarantine wall. While the colony could have simply burrowed underneath the massive constructions, the Taint had no such strategical inklings, the consuming of the Gestalt having rid itself of all higher means of thought. It was simply hunger given flesh.

A section of the Colony remained in place, in the hive it had forged through the consumption of it's own blood. Even though the heat-rock was now gone, it's latent energy remained. Two massive assemblages of worms connected it to the twin Tendrils, which were themselves splitting apart in order to consume the Walls and their defenders more hastily. It had had to sever it's physical connection to multiple sub-tendrils when the larger spider breeds had fired upon them, and bore witness to the subsequent disappearance of the targeted assemblage. It was the larger spiders that were slowing down the thanolekgolo's attempts at moving through the wall.

The regenerative devices incorporated into the Lekgolo Hordika's physiology no longer worked. The Taint could not use them to seal up the multitude of holes it had bored into the surface. Visorak forces took advantage of the clear shots that it had, saturating the infested area with their own Rhotuka spinners.  
Even then, they were essentially attempting to curtail what amounted to a raging fire with minute splashes of water. At first, a small supporting beam fell, taking with it a tiny piece of one of the towers that made up the backbone of the Wall. Thirty seconds after that, the thanolekgolo breached the reinforced walls of the spire- and the living tide swept inside.

The spider spire seemed to fold up, collapsing inwards as its structure disappeared down the gullets of ten thousand worms. The scene repeated itself across a span of one kilometer, the wall appearing to deflate and vanish. But when the Taint saw fit to consolidate it's new gains, consume what was left of the wall, it came up against a mental block. The Calls. It must seek out and devour the Calls first.

The Second Tendril of the All-Devouring Swarm rushed through the hole it had made, heading for the Southern Call. The First Tendril, however, was having to deal with a more determined defense, and a far more reinforced barrier. It didn't matter.  
In time, all would fall to the Swarm.

-

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
TOWER OF TOA APPROACH - SENTINEL BUNKER**

The former Sentinel construction facility had undergone changes in the time since the end of the battle designated 'Titanomachy' by SPARTAN-IV-311. Below the surface, Constructor Sentinels worked on slowly easing the structure into the ground, collapsing certain supports to allow the heavy weight above to settle relatively slowly into the hole that surrounded it.

The factory itself had altered it's internal structure. All damaged sections had collapsed in on themselves, with Aggressors and Enforcers salvaging whatever they could from the wreckage. As a result, the assembly factory had gained extra armor plating to protect the relatively delicate Sentinel production devices within, or at least the few that remained.

The twisted wreckage of one of the dreadnought's anti-ship energy cannons had been found in yet another one of the spider spires within the Le-Metru DMZ. Sadly, it had been damaged beyond repair by the secondary detonations that had wracked the superstructure of the now-destroyed Forerunner warship, and the cannon's fall from above did no favors either.  
Its power core was still remarkably intact, though, and had been interfaced with the Sentinel factory, supercharging it's production capabilities and allowing the DMZ to expand even further, capturing three other spider spires in the process.

A communication signal bounced from Wingbase to the Bunker, relayed from a UNSC Hornet currently flying above the Ta-Metru district. Schematics for the Enforcer Major were uploaded to the building's computer systems, but were deemed to be too much of a resource hog to construct. If the facility had been at full capability, then it would have been trivial, but as is, it would have been barely able to keep up production of Aggressor Sentinels to enforce the current DVZ pre-expansion were it not for the salvaged power core. A language program was also uploaded, though without an actual guiding intelligence, there was no point in the factory having the data. Finally, the tail end of the communication contained a new objective other than to maintain the DMZ- to recapture several important objects and local infrastructure from the hostile Visorak forces. This did not run counter to the core protocols and directives anchored deep within the constructs' programming, and so was accepted.

One of the odd individuals moving around outside the Bunker had tried to gain entry without proper authorization. While the standard response would have been a warning shot from the group of standard Enforcers guarding the Bunker, the restrictive programming given to the Sentinels in regards to their targeting ledgers prevented any kind of offensive or defensive action against the apparent local inhabitants. The same odd individual had then changed shape- if the Sentinels' rudimetary ancilla overseer had not been shackled heavily by the now-disappeared Aeona, the shifter might have been designated as a potential carrier of the Shaping Sickness. A subsequent high-priority deep scan had revealed no sign of Flood infection.

The shifter- now in the shape of SIV Matt Clarke- had repeated the action of attempting to gain entry to the bunker. Its' attempts at copying the interface device, however, were exceedingly poor, and it had been electronically slapped aside with little effort.  
The lack of a geas played an important part, too.  
A hardlight sigil flashed into existence over the door, the Forerunner glyph for 'restricted access'. The false Spartan stared at the sealed hatch for more than a few seconds before turning around and stalking away, morphing into a sleek avian creature as it did so.

Less than two minutes after that incident, the lifeboat used by Lieutenant Clarke to escape the collapsing dreadnought had been recaptured and dragged over to the Bunker. The armory contained within had replenished its contents, and it had repaired it's guidance system. While a Falco-class escape pod would not last in direct combat against heavy enemy forces, it would serve well as yet another transport craft- and it's speed was unmatched when compared to anything in Metru Nui local.

More than seven kilometers away, the Sentinels were engaged against the Visorak for control of the airship factory where the Le-Metru Makoki Stone fragment was once hidden away. Four Kahgarak led the spiders' defensive efforts, and with the restrictions of not being able to critically damage the factory in order to get at the defenders inside, the Visorak were able to exact a heavy toll on the Forerunner constructs' numbers. Neither side backed down, with Visorak reinforcements arriving on site from the north, and additional Aggressor Sentinels flying in from the south.

-  
**  
METRU NUI - TA-METRU - LE-METRU BORDER - LE-METRU SIDE  
95 KILOMETERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

Onewa was nearly as green as his fellow Toa of Air, though for different reasons. During the long flight over Ta-Metru, he and Nokama had got into yet another argument concerning the foreigner. Not surprisingly, she was steadfastly defending the stranger, and this time, everybody had joined in on the debate. Everybody except for Matau, that is. At one point, he might have had some pull over the group, but after the encounter with the worm-Rahi in Po-Metru, and what might have transpired had the Toa not had the 'UNSC' airships available for use, the Spartan had earned quite a lot of goodwill with the majority of the former Toa Metru.

Nokama put the brakes on the argument with two words. "Twenty billion."

"What was that, water-sister?"

"Brothers, you remember how many Matoran we came here to save?"

In response, Vakama shifted over, looking straight into the Toa of Water's eyes. "All of them."

Onewa added a comment of his own. "Yeah, Nokama, you feeling okay? Hordika venom affecting your mind?"

The Toa of Water shook her head, irritation sliding over her face. "No. Just answer me. How many Matoran are there in Metru Nui?"

"Around five thousand. Why do you ask such, Nokama?" Nuju responded.

"Consider this. Twenty billion dead."

"Twent- what? What are you talking about?"

"The 'foreigner', as you call him- where he comes from, he fought a war against another civilization, which he referred to as the 'Covenant'." Nokama said, forcing herself into her 'teacher' mentality, trying to not concentrate on what the large numbers in the subject at hand represented.

"And this is supposed to make me tr-?"

"I'm not finished, carver!" The sheer hostility in the Toa of Water's tone caused the Stone Hordika to recoil backwards as Nokama's Hordika side, long since stifled, raged deep inside her, her annoyance at the behaviour of her teammate almost reaching a breaking point.  
But lashing out at him would not end well, given their current location and situation. The former Ga-Matoran teacher came down hard on her animalistic nature, shoving it back down within her mind. It was easier to restrain it when one had a clear goal in mind, but even then it took a while.

Onewa had tried to make yet another barbed comment during the Toa of Water's internal struggle, but a stern glare from Vakama had put an end to that idea. When Nokama had regained control, she raised her head again. "The UNSC- that's their species' military force, as far as I can tell- fought a war of survival. The Covenant killed any single 'human' that they had come across, and carved a path through 'Urna' colonies. At the end of the war? Twenty billion 'humans' were dead. Twenty billion lives gone."

There was a minute of silence. Both Vakama and Matau had heard the story before, direct from the source. Whenua was the first to speak.

"That's... incalculable. That's almost more than we had Rahi in the Archives!"

"Yeah, water-sister! Sounds like you just got sold a pile of Kikanalo dung! There's not enough space in the Southern Islands to hold a population of that size-"

"Have you ever been there, Onewa? To the Southern Islands?" Whenua queried, sarcastically, "Do any of us even know how large the landmasses are down there, aside from patchwork maps made by crazed explorers?"

"No, but with a population that size, wouldn't we have heard of them before now? And how are we to know that he's telling the truth? His species could well have been the ones to have gone on a rampage, leaving twenty billion of the 'Covenant', if they even exist, dead in their wake." Onewa stated.

"The Covenant exist. We saw a few of them- or what was left of them- when we picked up the air-"

"Exactly my poin-"

"And," Nokama's voice hardened, almost daring the Toa of Stone to interrupt again. "He has not given us any reason to distrust him. In fact, he's helped us out in numerous conflicts. The ambush at the Ga-Metru school, for one. The battle against the Zivon- had we not had the support of the large airship, Vakama and I would have been overwhelmed by the Visorak, with Nuju and Kualus following shortly afterwards, and then Matau and Iruini being captured or killed. Whenua, you would most likely have ended up as Zivon food, given that you and Bomonga were at a perfect height for the monster to devour you." A suddenly sullen Toa of Earth muttered an affirmative from the other side of the airship. Nokama continued, "Which would have left only one to continue the fight to rescue the Matoran. You, Onewa. Could you possibly do it without us?"

The Toa of Stone was silent for a while, contemplating the potential sudden loss of his teammates. Sure, all of them may have their flaws, but he would mourn them all the same. And arriving with the Krahka and the Tahtorak just seconds after Matau and Iruini would be devoured by the Zivon... that would be hard to deal with. Sure, he could have potentially taken the Tahtorak and rescued Vakama, Nokama, Nuju, and Kualus in Ta-Metru, but that would have slowed him down even more. Either way, at least four of his allies would have more than likely perished that day, no matter what he might have done to prevent that.  
Instead, the foreigner had stepped in and rendered assistance- even though there was no reason for him to do so. He could have simply remained in the wreckage of his crashed airship, protected from the Visorak, rather than risk himself against the Horde.

After two minutes of silence, the Stone Toa replied. "No. We need each other."

"Then why-"

"Because he's not one of us," Onewa growled. "He left Nuju and I to get swarmed by Visorak reinforcements when he first arrived in Metru Nui. Does that sound like the act of a benevolent individual to you?"

"Well," Nuju began, "he did help us out at first. It was only after we left the building that we took cover in that he took off. Even then, he could have stayed inside the craft that he landed with, rather than expose himself to harm."

Whenua spoke up again. "And later, Bomonga informed me that the Spartan had saved him and a pack of Kavinika from a Visorak hunting party. Why would he have done that if he were the Piraka you claim him to be?"

"Because..." Onewa couldn't think of an answer to that- or, at least, one that didn't make him appear to be grasping in the darkness. "Because he wanted to win our trust, to betray us later on?"

"To what, brother? The Visorak horde? He has had multiple opportunities to do so. To the worm-Rahi lurking in Po-Metru? He brought you the ability to escape them. Plus, if you had forgotten, he went down there, alone, whereas the rest of us, together, barely managed to make it to the hole!"

"Well, he didn't have to deal with Rahi-instincts driving him crazy every time he tried!"

"You're even the one who recommended the idea of him going into that cave, by himself, with Mata Nui only knew what could have been down there! And if he were to be the coward and traitor you suggest he is, would he have accepted, or stayed outside?"

Once again, logic dictated the correct response- if the Toa of Stone's accusations were correct, then the foreigner would not have gone down into that cave, had he known what was inside. Onewa had one last rebuttal, though. "How are we to say that their minds even work the same as ours? They might see death differently than-"

"He would not have brought up twenty billion dead in such a way if it did not carry great significance within his civilization. How do you not understand that, brother?"

"If he was even telling the truth in the first place, that is..." Onewa said, with only a portion of the earlier vitriol present within his tone.

"Please, brother. Just... please. Stop with your wild theories. You are just as bad as Vhisola at the momen-"  
And that's when it hit her. Vhisola had argued with her peers on multiple occasions, trying to put her theories ahead of that of others, and refusing to see reason at multiple points throughout her various tirades. All this was due to her jealousy, that others were more successful, more well known, than her. Everything started falling into place after that.

Lieutenant Clarke's arrival in the city- where Onewa and Nuju found themselves pinned in a building close to a small Visorak tower. From what the Water Hordika had learned from Nuju, the 'stranger' had helped them out, dealing with a group of flanking Vohtarak and most of the Keelerak that were suppressing the two Toa's position. He had indeed left after the two Hordika had revealed themselves, but from their conversation in the 'Pelican', there was some form of misunderstanding as to the situation. He had asked whether or not the Visorak occupation of the city was some form of 'weapons test', whatever that could mean.  
Then, the ambush at the former school where she used to teach at. Onewa had been taken down before he had been able to react to the sudden assault, and they were most likely only saved by the Spartan's intervention. The short duration of the Visorak's stunning Rhotuka left little doubt in her mind what that meant had they not been interrupted. As stated multiple times to Onewa, Clarke could have simply remained invisible and waited for the Visorak to leave. Instead, he threw himself into combat, drawing the spiders' attention off of their captives and granting them time for the stun effect to wear off.  
She had summed up how the mission to rescue Matau would have gone without Clarke's support earlier- and for Onewa to have brought arguably the largest contribution to the actual fight, yet still possibly have arrived too late to have saved Whenua from the Zivon's maw...  
Finally, Po-Metru. His own home soil. And could he accomplish the mission assigned to him by Norik? No, instead the Spartan did so, after accepting the Toa of Stone's goading challenge as well. And as a bonus, he had found Turaga Dume in the tunnels, along with recovering the final piece of the Makoki Stone.

Po-Matoran were innately competitive. And, from Onewa's point of view, the Spartan had taken every possible opportunity to outshine the Toa of Stone.

After eighteen seconds of contemplation, Nokama put forward her theory. "You're not... jealous of him, are you?"

That sure got a reaction out of Onewa, who turned towards the mutated Water Toa, cold fire blazing in his eyes. "No. Mata Nui, no. Why would I be jealous of some Piraka-minded tall-Matoran-wannabe?"

"Well, Po-Matoran are competitive. Mix that with Hordika venom, and what happens after that?" Nokama rhetorically queried. "You see him as a threat to our group, but more than that, you see him as a rival."

There was silence for a minute as everybody looked towards Onewa for his response. The Toa of Stone opened and closed his mouth more than a few times, before replying, "That's... so what?"

A corner of Nokama's mouth turned upwards in a partial smile. "I'm suggesting, perhaps we shouldn't look a gift-Ussal in the mouth. He's offered to help us. He's assisted us on multiple occasions. And less than thirty minutes ago, he acted in our defense against members of his species that may have had less than honorable intentions concerning us. If he were our enemy, either acting as a spy for the Visorak Horde, or for other malevolent forces, would he have done most, if not all, of these things?"

Once again, silence reigned. It took a few minutes for the Stone Toa to respond, and when he did, it was with a grudging tone. "Fine. I will stop openly belittling the newcomer- only because you asked me to, water-sister. I will still remain suspicious, however- and if I'm correct in the end, I'll make sure my final words are 'I told you so'."

Nokama's smile widened further. '_It's a start, at least._' She reached out and grabbed the metallic box on her shoulder, snapping the activation tab back up. "Clarke, are you still there?" No response. "Lieutenant, can you hear us?"

No use. The line was dead.

-

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

Turaga Dume had left one labyrinth, only to be trapped within another. His attempts to reach the entry point only served to get him more lost within the network of passageways that made up whatever structure he was in. At several points, he had been confronted by the hovering constructs, which prevented him from traveling any further forward along his current path. The Turaga had tried to talk to the machines- possessed of some foolhardy notion that they would understand him and assist him in his efforts to find a way out. Instead, they simply remained in place, staring at him with their singular optics. When he attempted to move past them, they surged forward, pushing him backwards, with no other sound except for the faint hum of their propulsion devices.

The Turaga continued on. He had to find the exit.

-

**UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE 'HEAVY' HANGAR BAY  
UNSC GA-TL1 LONGSWORD DELTA-11**

"How... how could someone... be so..."

"Evil?" SSgt. Altfield grimaced. "Bad childhood? Took a few too many knocks while growing up? Hell if I know."

Cpl. Blake looked up, her face twisted with revulsion. "Why? I mean, somebody comes at me with intent to kill, and I'd probably give that idiot a hole through the head. But killing for the sake of killing?"

"As I said before, I have no idea. The problem is, he's a damn good pilot, and has quite a lot of clout. His uncle managed to fly up the ladder after the war was over, though from what I understand, he's genuinely a good fellow. Runs relief efforts for refugee populations. Not like the waste of oxygen currently in this base."

"As... as evil as he is, he's... still a human being."

"Huh. You know, for a Marine, you sure aren't that aggressive."

"I'm a medic. Received only basic combat training, know my way around a rifle-"

"-and a Longsword-", Altfield interjected.

A hint of a smile flickered over the Marine's face, but quickly disappeared back into glumness. "...But went through multiple courses of battlefield survival and rescue training, along with graduating from the University of New Legaspi, then going on through medical school. When the Covenant attacked, I was deep below the surface, tending to the wounded. After the war was over, signed straight on with the Marine Corps- and never actually fired a bullet at a living organic target until today."

"Huh. What made you decide to come along with me, then?" SSgt. Altfield folded his arms, and leaned back in his chair.

"Never been in a Longsword before, outside of simulators. Plus, you said you needed a co-pilot..." She let out a short laugh upon seeing the staff sergeant's face. The colour had partially drained out of it.

"How..." Altfield cleared his throat, then continued on. "How many hours did you log?"

"Not much, only about five hundred and thirty days total. Just whenever I had spare time in between and during deployments."

"And what simulation program did you use?"

"All the good simulators are property of the UNSCAF, and they're not going to let a Marine Corporal use theirs. So I improvised. Downloaded some programs off of Waypoint."

More colour faded from the Longsword pilot's face. "What programs?"

"Some official simulations, albeit obsolete. The Ace Combat: Covenant Eradication series. 'Swords' of Fortune series. Fleet Battles. Stuff like that." She topped it all off with a massive grin- anything to bring her mind off of the hell she had witnessed earlier, and what she had found underneath Martinez's seat.  
The Longsword pilot, on the other hand, looked like he had seen the spirit of Death himself. He was near-completely pale, and speechless, his jaw hanging open. "You know, Granmam always told me that if you leave your mouth hanging open like that, you'll start collecting insects." It was a completely idiotic thing to say to a higher-ranking individual, and Daimia winced the second the words had exited her mouth.

It took some time before Altfield began to speak again. "I'll have to check out those games sometime," he nigh-on whispered.

"Huh?"

"Corporal Daimia Blake, UNSC Marine Corps, you..." he paused, taking a deep breath. It was Cpl. Blake's turn to react- and she stood firm, expecting a tirade from the pilot, especially due to her comment. "You performed admirably well in your impromptu duties as a co-pilot for Delta-One-One. You are nearly as good as Senior Airman Amundsen- my actual co-pilot, who chickened out the second he heard about our little AWOL mission from that SIV- Samuels, I think his name was. The only thing you did wrong was talk just a bit too much, though your gunnery was top notch. If you obtained those skills through a kit-bashed array of flight-themed games, with obsolete sims lumped in as well... well, I would be hard pressed to tell you apart from a pilot who went through actual UNSCAF training."

Daimia's emotionless face cracked into a grin. "Thank you, sir. And sorry for the comm-"

"Don't apologize. I'm not one of those NCOs with a stick implanted firmly up their rectal cavity. Now, what say you to us going back to the mess hall and tying up a few jackasses?"

-

**UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
IMPROVISED MESS HALL**

SIV Lieutenant Clarke continued to examine the wireframes of the scattered pieces of the dreatnought, as well as watching the movement of the worms as they tried to get out of Po-Metru. They had arranged themselves into two distinct formations- one was pushing straight towards the city core, but running into heavy resistance along the way. The other one was cutting a ninety-meter-wide path of destruction straight south into Onu-Metru. They had passed straight by pieces of Forerunner technology in the process- which gave Clarke the idea to conduct a small experiment.

One of the pieces was a damaged generator and an attached chunk of a power relay system, ripped from the trunicated edges of where the left wing used to be joined to the main body of the dreadnought. Surprisingly enough, Wingbase had remote control of the power relay- enough to turn it on, at least. With the press of a few holographic buttons, the relay came to life, power surging through it and discharging into the air. If what the ONI reports said were true, then the worms would be drawn to it like moths to a flame... instead, even though it was but twenty meters from the thanolekgolo, they made no move in it's direction.

And then the generator went critical, it's unprotected collision with the ground having apparently damaged something important within it. It detonated with the force of ten tons of TNT-equivalent, temporarily disrupting the mutated Lekgolo's movement. For fourteen seconds, the forward progress of the massive tendril making its way across Onu-Metru stopped, the physical connection with the rest of the group having been scattered by the explosion.

The affected thanolekgolo turned on each other, devouring themselves in a frenzy of hunger. The assemblage behind the rogue worms had weight of numbers behind it as it pushed through the group, consuming all in it's path. In return, the rogue worms assaulted the gestalt limb as a counterattack, only to be swept away as well.

They were almost out of sensor contact. Two more pieces of technology were close enough - and intact enough, and suited the purpose of - to be used as high-tech IEDs. After that, it was either rely on the sparse coverage... or flip on main power. And the latter would light Wingbase up like a Moa on Arcadia... if the worms were actually attracted to energy emissions, like the ones that ONI had discovered had been.

Clarke checked the sensors as the thanolekgolo closed in on Object 2, seeing if they could detect what the pieces of technology were, and if they could be used for anything else later on- if there was a later, that is. OBJ-2 was a scanning device itself, though just like nearly everything else, damaged nearly to the point of inoperation. With a tap, he initiated the overload sequence, timing it to coincide when a good number of worms had passed by. OBJ-3, on the other hand...

"A Forerunner fighter craft? What condition? And why didn't I see this before?" Tapping the icon on the screen, the view descended into the crash site. A wireframe model extended from the command console, showing the smallcraft as it apparently should look like... then the majority of the image shifted to red. "Oh. Never mind." The only systems still able to function on it were communications- and auxiliary power. And given how it was at the bottom of a mineshaft, well beneath the worms' travel path... "Something to check out, provided we survive."

"There ain't no surviving for race traitors like you, shitstain." Plotz had regained consciousness, and had started to stand up. Clarke reached down for his sidearm- and his hand gripped naught but open air. Having taken off his armor, he had stripped himself of his weaponry as well... except for the interface device. The SIV turned around to face the pilot. "First Lieutenant Zachary Plotz. Sit your arse back down, before you hurt yourself again."

A gurgling laugh echoed from next to the Air Force lieutenant. CCM Martinez sat up as well- and then promptly fell forward, off of the cot, and planting his face on the metal floor. "Wha happn ta mah leg," he moaned, "Cahn't feel it! Wha happn?"

"That Marine bitch shot ya, Marty. A traitor like the rest of them, she is." Plotz looked up at Clarke, then gestured towards the CCM. "Say, shitstain, you going to help a fellow human being up, or what?"

The Spartan had a small chuckle at that. "You must think I'm some kind of fool. I may be idealistic, but I'm not stupid. You're closer, plus the two of you are wingmen- you're supposed to help each other out, right?"

CCM Martinez rolled over, grabbed onto Plotz's leg, and screamed, "My foot's gone! LT, my foot's gone! Where's that bloody bitch? Where is she?" Plotz bent down to help his comrade up, all the while glaring at the SIV across the room. Clarke returned the stare, and started to walk to the other side of the command console, putting it between him and the two rogue pilots, and also allowing him to keep an eye on the developing situation in the city.

What he saw was not good. In the time since he had been distracted by the two hostile pilots, the leading edge of the south-bearing tendril had passed out of Wingbase's current sensor range, and the other had breached the wall around Po-Metru and was bearing down on the city core. Sensor contacts- what he could only assume were Visorak- were pouring out of the structure referred to as the Coliseum, establishing impromptu defense lines in front of the advancing thanolekgolo. Against the flow of worms, however, they were overwhelmed within seconds to minutes. At first, the SIV didn't overly care about what happened to the spiders- but then the thought from earlier flashed through his mind. '_Oh shit. What if... what if the Matoran are being held in the Coliseum?_'

The Hornet had traveled out of passive communications range by this point. He could not confirm or disprove his sudden theory without directly talking to one of the Toa or Rahaga- and if they answered, and his suspicions proved correct, then they needed to act now. But to do so meant that that he would have to turn on main power- and that was still downright suicidal. It would lure the worms straight to Wingbase, and probably through the Coliseum anyway.

'_One final test. Damn it._'  
The Spartan selected the crashed fighter craft, and started to power it back up. Even with the damage inflicted upon it by it's fall down the tunnel, it's power system was still stable, and wouldn't suffer critical overload unless pushed past it's limits. What Clarke was focused on was keeping it at the very edge of those limits, both preventing it from entering meltdown, yet producing enough power that it could be picked up by the worms. A few taps on the scanner map later, and the view rotated around, this time providing a semi-blurred side view of the area. No change- the thanolekgolo continued to push forward, despite the active power source close beneath them. Either ONI got it wrong, or these were not the same subspecies. If it were the second option... then these creatures were not true thanolekgolo, but...

The door cycled open, and the Longsword crew stepped inside. Corporal Blake had her M6H service pistol and the confiscated M6D in both her hands, which were both pointed at the floor- though her posture indicated that she could bring both of them up and begin shooting at any moment. And SSgt. Altfield had... pieces of leather... in his hands, and a very uncomfortable look on his face.

"Sergeant Altfield... are those what I think they are?" His only response was a forced nod, and a rather unsettling grin from Corporal Blake. '_Yikes._'

A blinking icon on the holographic display drew the SIV's attention back to it- and the incoming data from his final experiment. '_Just as I had thought back on the Hornet. I was right. Lekgolo Hordika,_' Clarke thought to himself, as the sensor grid in Onu-Metru- as patchwork and damaged as it was- picked up on the massive stream of life signs continuing forward, completely ignoring the power signature beneath them.  
They didn't seek out the energy fields generated by advanced technology, which meant that firing up Wingbase's main power was safe- after he ran a diagnostic, that is. The fact that they were moving in such formations gave indication that they were not simply mindless beasts, but had some degree of coordination- which all but vanished when their connection to the main 'hive' in Po-Metru was severed.  
What he needed was to buy time- and to get communications back online with the Toa and Rahaga. He needed an answer for his theory as fast as possible, for if it were correct- then he could not let the Coliseum fall to the predatory worms, despite it's current owners.

'_Oh, this is not going to be fun._' Clarke stepped away from the console, and addressed the group of UNSC personnel in front of him. "Sergeant Altfield, you will not be needing those restraints after all. Command Chief Master Sergeant Martinez and First Lieutenant Zachary Plotz, consider yourselves reinstated into your previous roles within the UNSC. Get to your Broadswords and prepare for immediate deployment."  
Silence reigned for less than two seconds, then nearly everybody began speaking at once. Plotz said something about 'after the way they were treated, the Spartan had no call in bossing him around' and 'not taking orders from traitors'. Altfield protested the decision, and Marty... "My foot's been shot off! How do you expect me to get to my bird?"

"HEY! QUIET DOWN!" Clarke brought his hand down on the map suspended above the console, closing the currently active program. With a few taps on the interface device, it came back up, in it's un-zoomed format. "There is a growing situation in this city. We need to act now to prevent potential critical mission failure. Lieutenant Plotz, CCM Martinez, I need Broadswords in the air A-SAP." The SIV engaged the interface device's shield, with the same map now on the front- using the same technology that he used to 'talk' with Nokama after picking up Nuju and Kualus from the Ta-Metru chute control station they had holed up in, in lieu of a translation program worth something - and drew ovals over both the largest stationary group of dots in Po-Metru and the Coliseum approach currently under assault by the mutated Lekgolo. "The-"

"I ain't listening to any orders from a race traitor ubermench-wannabe shi-"

"Call me a shitstain one more time, and I'll find some nice dark, confined space to put you in until we get back to UNSC territory. I am the senior ranking officer in local at the moment. And thanks to a decision of some really high-ranking individuals within the UNSC, I - as a SPARTAN - also have the ability to take command of any atmospheric asset in local as well, which includes your F-41s, pilots. Now, both of you could remain in your cots, in which case Staff Sergeant Altfield over here can resume shackling you two together in whatever compromising position he could possibly deem necessary, and I proceed to find the smallest compartment on this base to stick you in until such time that we do return to UNSC-held space." The Spartan took a breath. "Or, I could allow you the freedom of flight, to go out into these two free-fire zones and shoot up every single thing that moves, deploying whatever ordinance you have against a threat that, once it's done with attacking the city, will come for us next, in far greater numbers. Your choice- sit in a very uncomfortable position within a dark, cramped space, or go out in your A/X fighter and blow shit up. What do you choose?"

The look on Plotz's face indicated that he was considering denying the offer purely for spite- even if it meant his own discomfort- but Marty immediately hopped on. "Tin man, you drive a hard bargain. I like that- means you're not entirely a fool." The Air Force lieutenant looked at his comrade with a split second of surprise, then nodded agreement himself. "One problem- my foot's gone! How the bloody hell am I going to get to the hangar bay?"

"Staff Sergeant Altfield and I will carry you. Don't get any funny ideas, though- try anything and it will be more than just your foot that gets injured."

"Oh, I think I might have started to respect you... had you not taken the side of aliens over-"

"We can talk on the way. Lieutenant Plotz? Step off the cot and away from CCM Martinez while we pick him up. We may have set aside our differences for now, but let me make this clear. I still don't trust you. And if I absolutely did not need every single asset possible in the air right this minute, I would not have offered this. Let that fact sink in."

"Sir, you can't do this! You don't know what this bastard has done!" Corporal Blake had found her voice. "He murders civilians for fun! He's a serial killer! He destroyed evacuation transports during Reach, for no other reason than because he could! They would have escaped otherwise, but just because they were in the right place at the wrong time, he shot them full of holes!"

Clarke stopped moving forward- in fact, all movement throughout the room ceased. "That's... I hope you have some damn proof to back that statement up, Corporal. The man did attack me, but making a false report with that degree of severity-"

"All on a flash-drive, sir! Sergeant Altfield-"

CCM Martinez moved. The injured pilot sat up and launched himself off the cot at the staff sergeant, adrenaline making him move much faster than he normally would be able to. Clarke's reaction speed was partially dulled by his irritation at the situation- they needed to be up and out of there, not bickering around and succumbing to infighting. Marty's leg injury, however, complicated his movement, preventing him from properly lunging at the targeted Longsword pilot. Instead, he toppled over the side of the cot, further injuring himself.

Corporal Blake had both pistols up and aimed at Marty. Looking down the barrels of both sidearms, the CCM raised his hands in the air. "You wouldn't shoot-"

"Try me. I shot you once, remember?"

"You're bluf-"

"Really want to risk that, Marty?" SSgt. Altfield commented, standing next to the Corporal, a horse whip- '_The hell?_' in his hands.

Seeing the CCM's reaction to the proposed existence of proof of some heinous crime, the Spartan realized two things. One, perhaps there was some truth to the accusation. And two... '_There is no way I can let that guy loose in the city. There's nothing to stop him from going rogue, or just flying off._' Same with Plotz- the lieutenant hated the thought of him siding with alien life, even if they were in no way connected to the Covenant. That same viewpoint ran deep within a decent chunk of the UNSC's population, with half-baked small splinter groups and terrorist cells popping up every so often. Clarke could see where they were coming from- even he had thoughts, sometimes, about taking the fight to some former Covenant bastards as revenge for the planets they had glassed. But that would only lead to more bloodshed- and even possibly restart the UNSC-Covenant war. And that was something that neither side would win.

However, the Toa were different- not even remotely aligned with the Covenant, nor possessing any knowledge of them. Same with the Rahaga, though he had only met a few of their number. It was a completely new civilization- but because they were 'not human', they, too, would be targeted by extremists. And with no apparent naval capacity, a single Stalwart frigate could wipe them out with near impunity.

This did not change the fact that he needed every possible asset in the air as fast as possible. He ran towards the group of UNSC personnel. "What the hell were you trying to pull, Martinez? Consider the offer off the table for you. As for Lieut-"

"If Martinez ain't going, neither am I."

"Even if it means you're both lashed together and stuck in some janitor closet somewhere?" A thought passed through Clarke's mind- '_The Forerunners most likely don't even have janitors... probably have some specific Sentinel variant for that sort of thing._'

"Marty's my friend, and I'll be damned if I leave him alone with you traitors."

SSgt. Altfield suddenly blinked. "Say, Plotz, what is a traitor, by your specifications?"

"Somebody who betrays the UNSC!"

"So... somebody who kills civilians - human civilians - for no other apparent reason than because he can would be called a traitor, under your guidelines?"

"Yes! ...Unless those civilians were Insurrectionists, in whi-"

"Hmm. Spartan? I think there's something that Lieutenant Plotz over here should see."

"There's no time for that," Clarke growled, "I need stuff in the air as fast as possible-"

"Exactly. Plotz may very well change his tune once he sees what's on this..." SSgt. Altfield reached down into his pocket, and withdrew a black data stick. "All of Marty's sins- at least, the ones that aren't buried under gallons of black ink- are on that flash drive. All easily accessed."

"Did you not hear me, Altfield? We. Don't. Have. Time!"

"Daimia and I can take the Longsword and deal with this. We have more ordnance, after all," the Air Force sergeant stated. "Just make sure Plotz sees everything on this data stick- and keep it safe. It still has to get to Captain Lasky or UNSC FLEETCOM, after all."

"I have a separate mission for you two-"

"Said it yourself, sir, you need something in the air as fast as possible. We're volunteering for the duty."

"...Damn it. Get to the hangar bay and deploy towards the closest marked area on the map. I'll see if I can't send it to you over comms- switch to frequency Echo-Five-Five. Direct your fire towards the worms- you'll know them when you see them. Don't get too close, and don't take any unneccesary risks." Clarke leaned forward, and took the data stick from SSgt. Altfield's hand. "Go."

"Thank you, sir. Come on, Corporal, we got a mission to do!"  
Corporal Blake gave CCM Martinez one final glare, then lowered her pistols and snapped their safeties back on. The CCM- who had been silent the whole time- remained still, his face nearly bleached white. The Longsword crew quickly left the room, both breaking out into a sprint once they left the mess hall.

"Now, both of you two chuckleheads are going to sit right here as I get this data stick running on Forerunner OS. By the way, Lieutenant, I have not 'betrayed the UNSC' like you claim." Clarke began to walk backwards, towards the command console.

"You're siding with aliens, against UNSC personnel! Giving them UNSC technology! How are you not a traitor?"

"This is a first contact situation, Lieutenant. The inhabitants of this planet are not part of the Covenant. They've never even heard of the group, nor the UNSC. Haven't mentioned the Forerunners yet, nor am I in any hurry to do so. They are an entirely new civilization - and one with quite interesting infantry-scale technology." The SIV started to tap on the screen, opening up the communications menu and beginning to synchronize one of the channels with that of the Longsword's- as best as he could, that is. '_I never did actually ask how they were able to use their elemental powers... ought to bring that up next time I'm able to talk with them, and there's not a massive threat like this hanging over our heads._'

"So? They're still aliens-"

"That doesn't matter one bit. They are not Covenant. They have no prior history with humanity. We're currently stranded in their territory. It is on us to make a good impression- and to help out where we can. Not become like the Covenant. Not become embittered by our long war against one alien conglomerate, and so assume that all aliens, regardless of their origins, will always be hostile."

"You're deluded. Survival of the fittest is the law of the galaxy." CCM Martinez lifted himself back onto the cot. "Those weak of mind, body, or heart will be weeded out. That is how life is. If they have advanced technology, but we hold the advantage, we kill them all and take it for ourselves. That is how we should-."

"To be naught more than Brutes? Or Jackals?" Clarke held back his growing frustration. "You know, I know a Martinez myself. He's actually a nice fellow- long as you don't piss him off. Wonder if there's a familial connection. You know a Jeremy Martinez?"

"What's it to you if I do or not?"

"Just an honest question, Milton. I'd rather call you Milton than Marty or Martinez, by the w- what the hell?" Clarke stared at the holographic map display as two individual dots took off from Wingbase. A chime indicated that the communication synchronization was complete. He immediately pulled the application up. "Delta-One-One, check your six!" Above the comm channel 'window', a wireframe representation of the Longsword appeared, with a blue dot where the pilot seat would be. Underneath the image was the craft's IFF.

**UNSC GA-TL1 C712 LONGSWORD DELTA-11  
UNSC ****_INFINITY_**** DELTA SQUADRON  
STAFF SERGEANT NATHANIEL ALTFIELD - SENIOR AIRMAN BENNING AMUNDSEN**

A sigh echoed through the comm channel. "Her idea, sir. Not mine."

'_What the f..._' "Explain. Now."

"Two birds are better than one. Her words. She's just waiting for directions- you said you had another mission for us?"

"Urrgh. I don't know whether to be irritated or impressed by your initiative, staff sergeant. Sending you the map data now- get out there and start shooting. Be advised, the Coliseum- the large building in the center of the city- is enemy-controlled, so don't get too close. Avoid firing in it's direction as well, as there may be hostages inside."

"Affirmative, sir. Corporal Blake's on frequency Echo-One-Three-Nine."

"Good hunting, Sergeant. See you back at base- we'll have a talk about interpretation of orders then." Clarke immediately started synchronizing yet another comm channel with that of the craft that the Marine corporal was piloting. He was expecting her to be flying the last remaining Hornet, a simple-to-operate aircraft- and then the synchronization completed. The wireframe model of a Broadsword popped up.

**UNSC F-41 BROADSWORD HOTEL-259  
UNSC ****_INFINITY_**** BRAVO SQUADRON HOTEL FLIGHT  
COMMAND CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT MILTON MARTINEZ**

"What."

"THAT BITCH STOLE MY BIRD!" Milton snarled, already lifting himself off of the cot and assumedly trying to run for the hangar. Instead, once again, he did not bother taking his injury into account, and wound up on the floor.

A light laugh came through the channel. "I take it Marty does not approve of my new ride?"

Clarke's eyebrows had skyrocketed up his forehead, and his eyes had opened wide. "Corporal, how the hell are you-"

"Lots and lots of simulations, sir. Should have joined the UNSC Air Force rather than the Marines, but the UNSCAF has no position for front-line medical staff, so I signed up with the devil-dogs instead. You have a mission for me?"

"Uh..."

"BRING BACK MY BIRD, YOU-"

"Hold on one second, Corporal." The Spartan left his post and walked past the console, facing the downed pilot... "SERGEANT MILTON MARTINEZ, SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU ARE ALREADY WELL IN OVER YOUR HEAD IN DEEP SHIT!" It felt good to let out his aggression- as long as he kept it to just verbal output. "YOU ARE CURRENTLY INTERFERING WITH ONGOING UNSC OPERATIONS, AND WILL BE FOUND IN VIOLATION OF THE JAG 3916-B PROTOCOL IF YOU PERSIST! ANY FURTHER DISRUPTIONS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" Inwardly, Clarke prayed that CCM Martinez would not call his bluff- or wouldn't be well read up on the UNSC Judge Advocate General's Corps protocols. SSgt. Richardson kept on top of all that legal stuff, especially after that run-in with a Marine Corps Major at a bar.

CCM Martinez could only nod, and began to crawl back towards the cot. Lt. Plotz met him halfway and helped him up. Clarke walked back to the console. "Sorry about that-"

"Nah. At least we won't have to have his foul mouth cluttering up the airwaves any more. At least for a whi- crap!"

"Corporal, sitrep!"

"Phew! Almost scraped the water that time!"

"What are you trying-"

"Just getting the hang of flying, sir. First time in an actual pilot's seat, after all." Her cheery tone of voice only made it worse- Clarke felt his figurative gut drop a few inches after that comment. Unfortunately, the CCM overheard that comment as well.

"YOU BETTER NOT CRASH MY-"

"DO I NEED TO REPEAT MYSELF?" Clarke bellowed past the holographic display, hoping that the answer would not be a 'yes'. Milton, however, backed down. Again.

"Ouch. That hurt my hearing. The communication system is a bit amplified- where's the volume control, Marty?"

"Please, let's just get back on track. I'm sending you directions to a location now," the SIV responded, already tapping on both the interface device and the display, drawing lines and circles on yet another map, writing out a few digital 'letters', and then sending the files to Hotel-259's onboard computer. "At first, go to the area marked 'Position One' and initiate a holding pattern in the area. I don't know if Broadswords can hover in-atmosphere or not, so don't try that- and don't land, either. You may not be able to take off again. I'll try and signal our local friends from there, using the Broadsword as a relay. And if that doesn't work... well, that's what the translation gear I uploaded to the Broadsword is for. Do you know how to operate the outer communication systems?"

"I... think so. That is, if the simulations I used were correct..."

"Then test it out at Position One, if you're not sure." The Spartan sighed. "This situation has turned into a right massive charlie-foxtrot. I have two chuckleheads that are preventing me from getting shit done, my armor has been completely scrammed, and now this. Corporal Blake, your mission to re-establish contact with the Toa and/or Rahaga is of the utmost importance. Please don't crash. Godspeed."

"Don't worry, I've got this, sir. You can count on me."


	19. Is My Enemy's Enemy, Nothing More

Sorry for the long wait (the really long wait). Had to go over this multiple times. I am regretting having added the Lekgolo Hordika to the story, as they have done their damnedest to derail the plot from 'asymmetric combat against the Visorak Horde' to, well... this.  
Note: It gets kind of [dodgy] in the last section, though nothing [graphic] really happens.

**CHAPTER 18  
...IS MY ENEMY'S ENEMY, NOTHING MORE**

ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - TA-METRU DISTRICT  
F-41 BROADSWORD HOTEL-259

What took the Pelican formerly designated as Golf-41 eighteen minutes to travel across, H-259 only took thirty-five seconds. Now came the perfect balance of control- not too fast, which would carry her out of transmission range for either Wingbase or the receiving end, but not too slow, either. Corporal Daimia Blake knew that a Broadsword could hover in space- but atmospheric flight was a far different scenario.

"I'm in position, now what? Sir," she reported over the communications frequency between the A/X fighter-bomber and the crashed Forerunner warship that the few UNSC personnel in the city were using as their home base. The Spartan on the other end of the line- who was the highest ranking UNSC officer in the island-city, and that was a fact that the Marine corporal could feel happy about, given how the next two individuals in line for potential command definitely had their own significant issues to work out- had shown his lackluster creative mettle when he had given the crashed vessel a name.

Wingbase. It was literally the wing structure from what had been designated as a 'Forerunner dreadnought'. The three UNSC strike craft in local had landed in one of it's open hangar bays during their initial assault to capture the ships from the Covenant. Instead of landing in the hangar bay of the largest ship in the ancient fleet- like they were expected to do- First Lieutenant Zachary Plotz had taken control of their little group of UNSC strike craft and ordered them to land in one of the hangar bays on the dreadnought instead. Nobody had challenged his decision, and so they touched down in the smaller Forerunner ship. The massive doors closed behind them, and soon they started to move.

And then the entire world pitched to the right, as if something had reared up and slugged the vessel. The lighting in the hangar bay had temporarily shut off, and when it turned back on, the entire ship was groaning. It took some time - near-on three minutes - for the hangar doors to grind open- and then one of them was ripped clean off, revealing the blue-streaked 'tunnel' of Forerunner slipspace travel. Even that didn't last long, as it suddenly transitioned to darkness.

There was a shrieking noise as some part of the ship's superstructure had given way, and the vessel immediately started turning at an angle, the exit of the hangar bay rising up and the three UNSC craft sliding towards the back of the hangar. At one point, she remembered Staff Sergeant Nathan Altfield - the pilot of the Longsword she was riding in - shouting orders, most likely directed towards her. She remembered the craft accelerating towards the hole, flying out into the darkness- though not the black of space. The view had quickly turned downards, as SSgt. Altfield- Nate- had brought the Longsword in to land, it having been damaged somehow in their escape from the stricken Forerunner ship.

She remembered seeing some sort of forest below- odd shapes rising up out of the black, and as they got closer, out of the fog. Nate had aimed for the largest flat area he could find- far away from the rest of what was quickly identified- if one could use that term- as some alien city. What snippets of conversation she could remember over the comm channel were quite... odd- Command Chief Master Sergeant Milton Martinez was already poking Lieutenant Plotz for permission to 'introduce' himself to the locals, as if there was no problem with their fellow pilot's Longsword and that it wasn't about to crash.

The landing itself was unpleasant- she found herself pitched forward, into the controls. And then... darkness. When she awoke, she was lying down, off to the side, with a thin blanket on top of her. She had apparently been out for almost an entire day. Nate had been in the same position, though he had woke up before her.

The two Broadswords had landed nearby, their pilots running maintenance checks on them. Neither of the two had come over to investigate the status of the Longsword's crew. The Longsword itself weathered the touchdown well, at least on the outside. The internals had had some degree of damage, though not bad enough that it couldn't be fixed in the field- at least, according to SSgt. Altfield. When she had woken up, the Longsword had been ready to take off. After that, it was a relaxing - well, as relaxing as resting against a hard piece of metal could be - ride to 'Wingbase', and then finding an access point to set down in.

And now she was in control - by herself - of one of the Broadswords. True, the pilot was probably going to make an honest attempt on her life when she got back, but, well, Marty would probably do that anyway. She was a threat to him- hell, they all were, in his mind. This was the same pilot that killed innocent civilians in the space above Reach during the titanic battle fought in-system against the Covenant. Why? Because they just got in his way.

"Copy, Corp... begin...ission now, hope..." The Spartan's voice jolted her out of her reverie, and she quickly turned around, getting back into position. Inwardly, she berated herself for getting distracted, reminding herself that this was not simply a wish-fulfillment flight, but an actual mission.

The uplink with Wingbase reestablished itself, and then went on towards connecting to something in the area designated as Position Two on the Broadsword's TACMAP. A stream of data flowed from a source marked 'LEMDVZCS' straight to Wingbase in response, represented as a red bar connecting two icons.

Corporal Blake sighed. _'How long is this going to take?_'

**METRU NUI - COLISEUM  
VIEWING PLATFORM - PO-METRU APPROACH OVERLOOK**

Sidorak stood firm, directing his current garrison of Visorak to form lines against the writhing carpet of black worm-Rahi that were attempting to assault the Coliseum. Though he would never confide it to anyone- at least, not without immediately killing them afterwards- the worm-Rahi unnerved him. They used the same tactic the Visorak horde employed against him- overwhelming force through sheer weight of numbers. After his resounding defeat in Le-Metru - which would not have happened, had he known that there was a Tahtorak in the city, nor if those thrice-Karzahni-damned metal birds not shown up to assist the Hordika - he had lost some degree of standing in his viceroy's eyes. Sidorak himself had nearly fallen in battle, only escaping on the back of a Venom Flyer just as the metal birds closed in. And now, there was this. Visorak all over the city were being summoned back to the Coliseum, leaving only skeleton garrisons in their various outposts.

Even then, it was like trying to hold back the raging waters of a river, or stop a volcano from erupting- a near-impossible task, unless one was a Toa of that element, of course. Sidorak spat into the ground- he needed no Toa to win this fight. He did not rise to power on Stelt by counting on those of higher strength than him. It was all him- his ideas, his tactics, his strategies. He had won this city through conquest- and giving it up to a bunch of mindless Rahi was not an option. Once again, he ordered a file of Visorak forward, to reinforce the failing front line.

Less than nine hundred meters from the edge of the colossal structure, the ground had collapsed into a writhing pit of darkness. A river of black worms flowed out, swarming over each other in their haste to close with the Visorak ahead. Even with staggered lines of Visorak discharging their spinners in a pattern that allowed them to keep up a steady stream of firepower on their foes, and Boggarak positioned in the lead, humming in synchronized intervals, the advance was undeterred in their ferocity. At several points, the line had been breached, and even now the spiders were struggling to hold the Rahi back. It was only the presence of Sidorak - and his herding blade's power over the Visorak - that prevented them from breaking into an all-out rout.

The worms surged forward again – and then were immediately disrupted, their formation turning on each other, tearing themselves apart, as an explosion blossomed in the distance.

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - PO-METRU COLISEUM APPROACH  
THREE HUNDRED METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

'_Hope I hit the right group... sure could use Daimia's help right about now,_' SSgt. Altfield thought to himself as he immediately put the Longsword into a steep climb, preparing for yet another bomb run. D-11 had been outfitted for ground support, though when he left Infinity, he still had six ASGMs still in their positions on his wings. One of them had been disarmed, disabled, and field-stripped for wires during his efforts to repair the craft after he and Daimia had had their rather uncomfortable landing on... wherever the hell they were now. He had said a prayer of thanks that they didn't go off upon impact with the ground- especially the incendiary bombs- and then he had feared that they were duds.

The fiery explosion below him buried that thought in its rightful grave. _'Four missiles left_.' Along with an assortment of mines and bombs- all of which were ready for deployment. Now he just needed to find another opening where he could drop the incendiaries...

**PO-METRU  
LEKGOLO HORDIKA HIVE**

The Taint recoiled as the high-explosive missile impacted and shredded the Lekgolo in the center of the First Tendril. Once again, with it's hold over the affected worms momentarily disrupted, they immediately began tearing themselves apart, constricting inwards. A kilometer-long colony of worms immediately turned on each other, consuming itself, as the ragged edge of the Tendril pulled back. With every time that it's control was disrupted, it got better at reestablishing itself, the process taking less and less time. It was useless to try re-establishing control over the Ferals, though- consumed by primordial rage and hunger, even the Taint could not wrench them back under it's control again.

And then a metal box fell from the sky, straight into the torrent of worms eight hundred and three meters from the now-severed end of the Tendril. Even as the worms devoured the outside casing, something inside ignited- and fire spewed from the hole in the ground.

While napalm and pyrosene-V were still widely used in the UNSC's infantry-portable or vehicle-mounted incendiary weapons, when one really had to deploy scorched earth tactics, the United Nations Space Command Air Force accepted no substitutes but the best. Dioxygen diflouride was downright nasty, reacting with nearly everything it touched - with the exception of the majority of Forerunner construction materials, and had to be stored in specialized devices to keep it below -50 degrees Celsius, otherwise it would either render the bomb unusable- or go off inside the carrying vessel itself. Once deployed, though, it did it's job well- setting fire to whatever poor object, Covenant soldier, or Flood infestation that had been marked for destruction. And the fire would burn and burn and burn, only being extinguished by a lack of oxygen. There were stories of battlefields where the fires were still lit, even after the conflict was well over.

Of course, the Taint knew none of this information. All it knew was that whatever had been inside that container had hurt. Unfortunately for the worms, their organic bodies were exceedingly flammable, and with the bomb packed away in a nice, compact are, the explosion was focused both up and down the tunnel- and out of the hole where the bomb had fell in. 200 kilograms of FOOF ignited at once, instantly immolating every single worm within fifty meters of the detonation- and the wave of fire did not stop there. Contained as it was within the tunnel, it roared like a MagLev train straight through the clumped masses of Lekgolo Hordika, every so often erupting to the surface when it reached one of the holes the worms had bored through the ground when they came up to feed upon the unfortunate defensive lines arranged before them.

Finally, the Taint showed some hint at self-preservation when it collapsed the tunnel ahead of the oncoming jet of hellfire coursing through the tunnel towards it. More than two kilometers of worms had been sacrificed- and the First Tendril's forward composition had been utterly annihilated. Additional tubes and boxes were droppped into other boreholes, though those were either shrapnel-based or using naught more than simple high-explosives- not the fire-bomb from before.

The Second Tendril had shrunken in size- where it used to be a near ninety-meter-across tidal wave of hunger and destruction, it was now a thin snake of less than forty meters picking it's way towards the border of Ko-Metru. This was not due to any sort of enemy action, no- this was because there was just not enough Lekgolo Hordika to go around. The previous district was riddled with holes, and the worms had to stay in close contact with each other for the Taint to be able to control them, otherwise they would immediately become feral and uncontrollable, turning on either themselves or the non-feral worms. Therefore, the Tendril was forced to take a winding path through Onu-Metru.

More worms were directed towards the remains of the First Tendril, to continue the push for the Calls. Hunger. Feed. Consume.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST - WINGBASE**

_'That should do it..,'_ Spartan Matt Clarke thought to himself as he tapped out the final set of commands on the interface device, while reaching over and pushing even more buttons on the holographic display generated by the command console- or what he was using as a command console, at least. Above him, three other holograms rotated around the console- each one pertinent towards current operations. And it was a headache.

_'If this is what Aeona had to go through during Ops...'_, he started to think, before cutting himself off. No need to add yet another stream of thought to the eddies currently raging in his mind. The objectives were simple enough: reestablish contact with local friendlies; get confirmation of original theory as to location of local population; run a full diagnostic on Wingbase and check for any possible complications that may arise before and during it's planned switch to active status - which he had recently learned could only be done from certain sections on the ship, further complicating matters; and find the biggest piece of ordnance he could deploy without blowing up too much of the city in the process. And all while still keeping an eye on the two hostile UNSC personnel across the room from him.

He had run a simulation on detonating Wingbase's primary, secondary, or tertiary power cores; the results were not promising. For one, he had no aircraft capable of carrying- let alone deploying- the various cores. Two, the explosion was a little too energetic. How bad? Well, it got rid of the worms... but it also punched a hole the size of three-fifths of Africa into what used to be Metru Nui, and that was just a bit too much collateral to work with- and that was concerning the second-tier core. Also, the primary power core was on the main section of the former dreadnought, which was currently eighty kilometers beneath the waves- and from what he could see on the wireframe of the aforementioned main body, it had been well and truly wrecked by the crash as well.

The SIV growled at the primary screen on the command console. He was unable to transmit to Le-Metru until this stupid upload finished. If he could connect directly with the former Sentinel factory, the upload would be done in three seconds- if that. Instead, using the Broadsword as a relay was limiting the upload speed- and he was forced to sit through pointless updates that scrolled across the screen, showing each time a Sentinel was constructed, destroyed, or fired it's weapon- and at what target, if said target was hit or not, and if said target was killed, injured, or remained combat effective. After a certain point, he turned his attentions to other matters- it could run in the background as he fiddled around with other problems.

At least the two Broadsword pilots weren't disrupting the operation any more. Clarke kept checking on them every now and again- just to make sure that they weren't about to jump him. Nope- they were either talking to each other, or simply lying back in their cots. He wasn't a fool, though- if he turned his attention fully off of them, he had no doubts that CCM Martinez would try something.

A 'ping' echoed from the command console. The formatting job was finished- SSgt. Altfield's video was ready to be viewed. The Spartan wasted no time, and stepped out from behind the console. "Hey. You two. You might want to pay attention-"

CCM Martinez started to speak. "Why would we listen to the orders of a traitor-"

"Ah, to hell with it." Clarke toned down the lights in the mess hall- just enough so that he could still see the two pilots' outlines, but so that they could also view the contents of the file. He pressed play- and then went back to work. It didn't take long for the contents of the video to draw the Spartan's attention back to it.

A massive civilian evacuation craft - assumedly filled up to maximum capacity, containing six hundred panicked individuals- was hit by autocannon fire, followed up by a pair of MEDUSA missiles. The evacuation ship had no chance, the anti-fighter projectiles having smashed into the engine compartment and set off the reactor within. Fire roared through the fuselage, as the ship just seemed to expand outwards, a brief spurt of flame blasting out through what would have been the cockpit. Another evac ship, on the right of the stricken vessel, started to lean to starboard, but two more missiles put paid to that, both impacting the side of the craft and tearing it wide open, spilling debris and bodies out into the void as the ship tore itself apart undernath the stress. A third ship- a civilian yacht in the center- immediately tried to initiate evasive actions, but the aggressor craft's autocannons were already firing, and soon even the yacht went dark, it's structure completely perforated. The whole engagement- if one could call it that- took place in less than seven seconds. 1200 people- gone.

The view flew forwards, rocketing past the floating bodies- a little girl, clutching onto a cat-shaped backpack, her hand clutching that of an older woman- and then the grisly scene was left behind. There was no sound. Clarke immediately hit the 'pause' button- or, at least, what he thought was the pause button. Instead, the video tracked back, showing the destruction of all three craft, yet again- and the moment of the second evac transport being opened up like a can froze on the screen as the Spartan finally found the proper function.

All thoughts of the current mission had been wiped from his mind. White-hot anger- long since repressed, hardened, now threatened to break free and take control. Jun- the instructor of the Spartan-IVs - or at least his group; before they had been assigned to INF-101 - had always said '"We kill the enemy, but do not hate them."' In that regard, he had made a terrible student- his open dislike of the Covenant was well-known, and not unique amongst his peers. This had always brought his team extra work- extra laps around the course; extra hours at the shooting range, collecting spent ammunition; extra hours in the gym; less food... They were expected to be soldiers, not murderers. The act of killing should be second nature to them- though not enjoyable. Deriving pleasure from killing was a slippery slope, and should be avoided.

At this moment, all of his pent up rage, anger, and frustration was directed on a single spot, towards a single person. Milton Martinez. He stepped away from the command console, looking down, already selecting the method of execution- the interface device's shield function flaring to life...

...only to be immediately confronted with the sight of an empty cot. A loud smack to his right alerted him to some form of combat being waged in the dark, and he immediately reached back for the command console, selecting the lighting controls and raising them back up...

Lieutenant Plotz was on the ground next to CCM Martinez, the homicidal pilot having wrenched one of the struts off of the second cot and recovering from a swing. Judging by the bruise near the top of the Air Force Lieutenant's head, the two of them weren't exactly getting along any more. Milton was performing a balancing act, trying to unscrew yet another piece of metal from the framework, while remaining armed- though the sudden brightness didn't seem to bother him.

Clarke broke into a run, closing the gap rapidly, Milton raising his head, dropping the cot, getting ready to lash out with the metal bar... The shield swung out, impacting the CCM; a pulse of energy ripped through the hardlight barrier, and Milton was thrown bodily away from the current conflict, hitting the wall with a loud 'thud'- the sound of bones cracking echoing through the room- and sliding down to land in a muddled heap.

'_Threat neutralized,_' his mind- at least, the logical, rational side- screamed at him. His id, however, demanded more- vengeance to be delivered, blood to be shed, the murderer be dealt his sins. The pool of anger- long since held back; contained, secured deep within, was now glowing white-hot, ready to be released. He took a step forward- and stopped.

Killing him now would be too easy. There were over forty options available to him right now. But looking at the man now... succumbing to mob justice would undermine everything he was. Did Milton deserve it? Oh, hell yes. But the effect it would have on him... to murder a UNSC serviceman, no matter how messed up said individual was, without trial... _'Survival of the fittest. Those weak of mind, body, or heart will be weeded out._'

No. Humanity was better than that. He was better than that. "Milton Martinez." His voice held no mercy, only barely contained rage. "You will be taken into custody, secured, and isolated until we get back to UNSC territory. The JAG will see to the terms of your execution- but you are not worth the effort." He began to approach the fallen pilot, his hands clenched into fists. The shield remained active. "You believe that only the strongest can survive, and there is no place for mercy or kindness. You deserve neither, but I will not permit your last act of your murderous life be proving you correct in your beliefs."

Marty cracked open one eye, staring up at the Spartan with pure hatred. "You... are a fool. In the end, I will kill you. It doesn't matter how. I will find a way- and humanity will be all the stronger after it is done." As if for punctuation, the CCM tried to lash out with the metal bar still in his hand- only for it to slip out of his grip and uselessly clatter on the floor.

A ping from the command console broke the tension of the moment. Clarke deactivated the shield, grabbed the metal bar, and slowly backed away. CCM Martinez was out of commission for good. The Spartan took a few steps, bent down to pick up what was left of the cot- and jerked his head back around towards the homicial nutjob lying against the wall. Nope. Still no change- and due to the way both his legs were splayed out, Clarke could hazard a guess that the impact with the wall had broken something significant.

Next to him, Lt. Plotz moaned, regaining consciousness. The Spartan prepared himself to drop everything that he was currently carrying and prepare to subdue yet another opponent. The UNSCAF Lieutenant's eyes popped open, and the first words that came from his mouth-

"WHERE THE HELL IS THAT MURDEROUS BASTARD OF A TRAITOR?"

_'Yeah, what else was I expecting..._' The SIV thought to himself, before replying to the pilot's question. "He's against the wall. Broke something important. Probably can't move worth a damn now." He shuffled the cot to underneath his right arm, followed by the improvised metal bludgeon, before reaching out with his left hand. "Need a hand up?"

The AF officer stared at the hand, before rolling to the side and getting to his feet normally. His eyes quickly picked out Milton's still form against the wall, and he started to move towards the injured pilot. Or, at least, he tried to, but was suddenly caught in a chokehold, and listening to the sounds of metal hitting the ground. "You hear that noise, Lieutenant? That's the noise of people messing around with my ongoing operations. Now, you have two options: one is to resist, and I subsequently knock you out and drag you back to the command console, thus slowing me down even more, and putting good people in danger. Or we can go with option two, which is you cooperate, leave the bastard for JAG to deal with- and they can be a helluva lot more creative than me- and you actively assist me with said operations. Which will it be?" He put an incrementally small amount of extra pressure into the hold, and was rewarded with the pilot gasping out, "Number two! I submit!"

It was almost pathetically easy to turn around and toss the AF Lieutenant back on his arse, in the direction of the command console. "Good. Now, as for that hand up..." He stretched out his left hand again, the interface device glowing with latent energy. Plotz reached out and took it, albeit grudgingly. "Now go lie down on the cot. I'll tell you exactly when you're needed. Don't argue, just go."

Unlike the previous few incidents involving the pilot, this time the Air Force officer complied without much of a fuss. His face grew near-blank, and the bruise had grown bigger. Shortly after getting back to his feet, and halfway back to the makeshift bunk, he collapsed again, this time going limp. Clarke approached carefully, and checked for a pulse- and let out a short sigh of relief when he felt one. The pilot was merely unconscious. If he had died right there... well, the UNSC JAGC would have one less criminal to deal with, consequences be damned.

The SIV placed the limp body back into the remaining cot, then quickly spun around, sprinted back into the center of the room to grab the mess of fabric and metal and take it away from Milton's grasp. As before, the Broadsword pilot was still lying against the wall, eyes fixated on the Spartan, conveying nothing but murderous intent. Clarke did not bother responding in kind, and proceeded to run back towards the command console, tossing the wrecked cot down next to it.

_'Yes!_' The upload from the Le-Metru DVZ was complete. Now he could put his plan into action... if Corporal Blake was still in position. He tapped the comm channel marked F41H259-R, selecting it as primary, before speaking.

"This is SPARTAN-FOUR-311 Lieutenant Matt Clarke, any friendlies on this channel, respond!"

**METRU NUI - LE-METRU DISTRICT  
TOWER OF TOA APPROACH**

Iruini leaned back against the odd airship parked close to the Tower of Toa. He had done a cursory inspection of the craft, though was careful not to touch anything that looked important. His first opinion of the airship was that it was insubstantial, rickety, ill-designed- and had he not seen it come in with five Toa Hordika riding on it, he would have been dubious of the prospect of it managing to carry even one. The control cabin was quite cramped, from what he could see, and how Matau had to have two of the other Toa help him out of it.

Norik, Gaaki, and Pouks were inside the Tower, both conversing with the Toa and doing something with that Mask of Light that they had stolen from Destral all those years ago. Bomonga and Kualus were elsewhere in Le-Metru, freeing the Rahi that had been trapped in the Visorak's cocoons. With the metallic not-Rahi striking out at the spiders, the scourge had pulled back, actively giving up territory. It wouldn't last, though. Eventually, Sidorak would take the field again, and attempt to recapture what he had lost. Iruini could only hope that they would be ready when that time came- and that Sidorak would overcommit his forces, leaving the Coliseum less guarded.

A voice behind him jolted the Rahaga out of his thoughts. "...RTAN-FOUR-311 Lieutenant... any friendlies... channel...ond!" Iruini leapt forward, startled by the sudden noise. "I repeat, any friendly forces on this channel, if you can hear me, please respond!"

The air-Rahaga stood still. The Toa aspect of his mind told him to investigate, while the Rahaga aspect said to take caution- and perhaps get one of the former Toa Metru. After all, they would know how to respond to what was going on. The voice came again, "This is a priority one call, if you are receiving, respond immediately! There is a critical situation in Po-Metru- the thanolekgolo have gone on the offensive! Please respond, over!"

There was silence for a few seconds after that, then... "Damn it! Corporal Blake, continue on to Position Two. I'm sending you the audio files, and the translation programs. When you get close, you should be able to pick up on a radio signal; that should be Nokama."

"Who's Nokama?"

"One of the Toa- local military forces. Friendlies. Translation program should help you understand her."

Now that Iruini could understand. The first voice was asking for Nokama- and he recognized it as that of the foreign warrior that had assisted them during their attack on the former Visorak command post. He remembered the mutated Toa of Water doing something with a black box and a tangle of wires before she went inside... taking it off and placing it... there!

The former Toa Hagah took off running at near full speed towards the side of the building. He reached the stone that the object had been placed on, and grabbed for it. His hand scraped against the side of the box as he pulled it down, and felt something give underneath his grip. The oddly-shaped instrument on the end of the wire immediately started emanating noises as well; a long, drawn out hissing sound. For a second, Iruini wondered if he had grabbed a Bog Snake instead of the object the Water Hordika had been wearing, but a quick check dismissed that concern- though he was ready to throw it towards the entrance portal anyway.

Voices from up ahead. At least two of the Toa were coming out of the Tower. Perfect- perhaps at least one of them knew how to work the device.

**ISLAND-CITY DESIGNATE METRU NUI - LE-METRU - TA-METRU BORDER - LE-METRU SIDE  
F-41 BROADSWORD HOTEL-259  
937 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

_'Fast and low. Get there fast as possible, get the intel, and get back to base. Then get to Nate and help him out,_' Corporal Blake repeated in her head. Simple enough orders. Not like meeting a new alien race that wouldn't be shooting at her - at least, she hoped not - was a big deal, after all. 'Have to make it interesting along the way, though.'

Descending further towards the ground, she spotted the signs of conflict up ahead. At the speed she was traveling, she wouldn't have time to properly identify targets- and the last thing she wanted to do was pull a Marty and accidentally blow up some local allies. _'Something to keep in mind on the way back, at least._' The battleground swept by underneath her, just close enough for her to see that one side consisted of Forerunner Sentinels- and, all things considered, they were winning.

It wasn't long before she arrived at POSITWO, already decelerating on her approach. It was obvious that some massive engagement had been fought there, as the neighbourhood was well and truly wrecked. Two holes had been punched deep into the ground, though one of them looked like something had crawled out of it, a ramp of concrete, rock, and metal having been accumulated on one side. A large spire sat on one side of the former battleground, and everything east of it for a good chunk of two blocks had been dismantled by... something. The remains of some sort of Forerunner structure were buried in the dirt as well, just a bit off to the side of the primary street leading towards the tower. Everything else around the spire was more or less undamaged- at least, when put up against the absolute devastation on the eastern side.

On her second pass overhead, she noticed a crowd of figures gathering at the base of the tower. _'That's probably those 'Toa' the Spartan mentioned,_' Daimia thought to herself. _'Better introduce myself._' She clicked the comm system to 'local', and proceeded to transmit the contents of the first audio file.

"This is Lieutenant Matt Clarke, SPARTAN-I-V-311, to all Toa in Metru Nui. This is important- where are the Matoran being held?"

'_Matoran? What the hell is a Matoran,_' the impromptu pilot wondered. A response was not long in arriving- though Cpl. Blake could not understand the words, the speech had a feminine tone. The Forerunner-derived translation program, however, did it's duty with efficiency. "Clarke! We lost contact with you over Ta-Metru. What happened?"

Daimia briefly considered simply repeating the audio file, but impulsively decided against it. She tapped her headset, switching it to 'transmit'. "Wingbase's comms range doesn't extend as far as expected, uh... Nokama?"

There was another voice heard over the line, though the translation program was unable to pick up on it. Then- "Who am I talking to at the moment?"

"Corporal Daimia Blake, UNSC Marine Corps. Spartan Clarke sent me here to re-establish contact with you, and to ask you a few questions of great importance. They're pre-recorded, mind, so that's why you heard the Spartan's voice."

"Is the Spartan okay?"

"Yes, he's fine. Now can you please answer the questions? I have somewhere to be real soon, as something big is going down in... uh... hold on... Po-Metru? Something involving worms."

A sigh. "The Matoran are being held in the Coliseum. The Visorak are holding them captive. What's happening?"

"That's what those spiders are called, right? Visorak?"

"Yes. What's going on?"

"Next question." She leaned forward, and triggered the second audio file.  
"This may sound like a dumb question, Nokama, but who was that person I found down in the caves? I may very well owe him one- he fixed my armor, though I suspect that it's only temporary; and is currently in a position to fix a whole lot more."

"Turaga Dume, the leader of Metru Nui. Or, at least, he was..." There was a pause. "I've answered your questions. Now, what is going on?"

"Oh, not much, just that the worms are on the move, and are apparently assaulting the... uh... Coliseum? Spartan Clarke's deployed everything he can to stop or slow them down- which would normally include me as well, but due to Plotz and Marty being corrupt assholes that enjoy shooting everything that moves - especially Marty - I had to come here while the Spartan is stuck on babysitting duty. Better him than me, at least..."

Silence again- and then rapid movement below. Corporal Blake descended further down to get a better look, and saw three of the beings climbing onto the UNSC Hornet, with a fourth individual getting into the pilot cabin. "You'll never get there in time with that, you know. Hornets move slooooow. If Nate were here, we could have given you a lift- Nate! Got to go, bye!"

HOTEL-259 immediately broke out of it's holding pattern around the tower, flew clear of the immediate area, aligned towards the direction of Wingbase- and then hit the afterburners. Down below, Matau had just closed and sealed the Hornet's cockpit cover when the entire airship vibrated as the shockwave hit. "Mata Nui, what was that?"

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE**

Lieutenant Clarke had enlarged the wireframe model of the center section of the dreadnought, brushing everything else off to the side. There was nothing on board Wingbase that he could properly deploy against the ravenous hordilekgolo worms rampaging in Po-Metru. It quickly became obvious that Wingbase was the most intact section out of the entire ship- or what was left of it. The single shot from the Fortress had downright shredded the left wing's structural integrity, before penetrating into the main body itself. The only thing that saved his life was that it hit a non-critical section, and didn't interfere with either main power or the operation of the slipspace drive.  
Something on that ship had tried to kill him- if he ever saw Apex again, he'd have to respectfully inform and instruct them on how to do a proper check for enemies. _'Like how you brought the Covenant to this city? Like how the worms got here? Don't forget to look in the mirror when you say that, Matt._' He sighed. _'No time, anyway- either we left right that minute, or we would've been char-broiled._'

The central section of the dreadnought was blinking red nearly all over. The only sections that weren't completely compromised by seawater was the bridge, the tertiary power core, and the slipspace drive. Under normal circumstances, the Forerunner warship would have been able to remain intact under the pressure, but due to the supercapital's attack, structural integrity had failed. Clarke could only feel a sense of relief that it hadn't fallen apart while in slipspace transit.  
The tertiary core was bleeding power- multiple critical junctions had been destroyed in the crash. Luckily enough, it wouldn't enter a meltdown phase, but would instead just shut down. Once that went, however, all hopes of salvaging anything other than raw materials from the crash was gone.

"Spartan Clarke, I got the answers you wanted! Sending them to you now!" There was the chipper voice of Corporal Blake. Almost immediately, a file was uploaded to Wingbase's UNSC server- and then brought up on screen. Text-only, as expected from the translation program.

_'The Matoran are being held... shit!_' "Corporal Blake, immediately redeploy to the Po-Metru Coliseum approach vector in support of Staff Sergeant Altfield. This is your combat mission, stop the worms from breaching the structure by any means necessary! Go!"

The dot representing H-259 immediately pulled to the left, heading away from Wingbase and towards the Coliseum. "On it, sir. Won't let you down."

_'To hell with it._' The SIV needed more firepower. "Lieutenant Plotz, attention!"

"What do you want, tin man?"

"I'll let that comment slide. This time. I need you in your bird, right now, and off to battle. Location designate PMLGH. Don't shoot fri-"

"Don't shoot friendlies, no matter what they may be, right? Why should I accept this? The Covenant took-."

"Rrrgh!" Clarke slammed a fist down on the edge of the command console, barely wincing in pain as the Forerunner material did not give an inch beneath the impact. "These aliens- these allies; they're not the Covenant. They know nothing about the human-Covenant war. They are a blank slate when it comes to interaction with humanity."

Silence. Then... "I'll do this, on one condition."

"Name it. If it's enacting frontier justice on a certain individual, then forget about it."

"Show me the footage again. Close-up. Try and get hull identification markings."

"Why?" Clarke asked in confusion.

"Why should I help you?"

"Damn it, Lieutenant, with every second we waste talking-"

"Then I suggest you stop talking. Just... show me. Then I'll go out; not shoot friendlies," Plotz said pointedly, "and give these worms you seem so concerned about a good hammering."

Clarke said nothing in return. _'If this is what it will take..._' He started to scroll through the open 'tabs', bringing the video back up. Once again, he started from the beginning of the massacre, cranking up the resolution and starting a 3D reconstruction of it- just enough to try to see the ships' IDs.

The yacht was unrecognizable- Aeona could probably have pulled markings, but Clarke's grey matter could only do so much. It was a wonder that he was even able to do half the shit he had done so far- the Forerunner computer system blew UNSC equivalents well out of the water in terms of accessibility. "Left evac ship is... One-Delta-Seven. And the right is..." _'Enhance. Zoom. Enhance. Let the computer do the work._' "One-Delta-Ten."

There was a whisper from the cot. "That rat bast..."

"Eh?"

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Plotz exploded out of the makeshift bunk and started to run- only to be interdicted by the SIV and tossed back to the ground.  
"What did I say, Lieutenant? Stand the hell down! JAG will take care of him!"

"No! The bastard... he deserves what's-!"

"What? Death? Yes, but not by our hands! Do you want to prove him right? That we are but beasts, that we are ruled by the law of the jungle, not by-"

"HE KILLED MY FAMILY! HE DESERVES THIS!" The AF Lieutenant started to get up, though the Spartan moved to block his path to his former wingman.

"What?"

"One-Delta-Ten! My parents were on that flight! My sisters! All dead! All on his hands! And then he has the gall to call himself my friend, my wingman, and..." The Lieutenant staggered again. "...Everything's just so... messed up. I wish we'd never signed on for this mission... it was Marty's idea, all of it..."

The first thought to cross through Clarke's mind was that it was actually his idea to perform grand theft Forerunner fleet on the Covenant, not Milton's, but he held his tongue. "Lieutenant Plotz. That rage you feel, consuming you? Don't let it take control. Mold it. Use it. Don't let it use you."

"Don't you go all crazy on me, shi-"

"No. Don't even think about it."

First Lieutenant Zachary Plotz stared up at him. The betrayal- the revelation- had shaken him to his core. Everything that he was was a result of that loss. "Who are you to stand before justice, Spartan?"

"You think I'm doing this out of some crazy respect I have for the man? No. I'm doing this because I respect the uniform. If this were in battle, if he was the enemy, there would be no second thoughts, no stay of judgement. But here? He may be a homicidal maniac, but he is still UNSC personnel. And if we just out-and-out put him down like a rabid dog, we're proving him right. The modern-day justice system- the JAG corps- was assembled for a reason. We are more than animals, more than the neanderthals that Milton over there expects of us. We shoot him, and we take the first step towards becoming him."

Lieutenant Plotz started to respond, but a raised hand cut him off. "I'm done discussing this. I do, however, have a job for you to do. You have quite the bump on your head, so you most likely shouldn't fly right now. As of the current situation, your Broadsword is a strategic-level asset, and one that cannot be so easily replaced."

"Wha- I'm fine! I can handle myself-"

"Right up until you lose consciousness and plow said current strategic asset straight into the ground. Not going to happen."

"You're worse than my wife, nag nag nag, nope nope nope..."

"Ha! That's a new one." The SIV went back to his station, and started flipping through the various menus. "Now where is internal... got it!"

Another wireframe popped up, showing the internals of Wingbase. Three figures were in a blue-highlighted room- with one pulsing red, and set further away than the others. Tapping on the pulsing figure, another 'window' opened, displaying an in-depth scan of the injured pilot up against the wall. Multiple spinal fractures were clearly visible, along with a fractured pelvis- the landing had not been soft. With a wave of his hand, he closed the window... and pressed his finger down on the other pilot's sensor return.

Small concussion. Nothing serious. It wouldn't impede his basic motor skills, though flying a complex machine like the Broadsword- at high velocities- was out of the question.  
_'Damn it!_' More distractions. Not good. Clarke waved away Plotz's medical scan return, and looked around the partially cluttered array of holographic displays, trying to find the files that Corporal Blake had sent him. One minute passed as he frantically scrolled through the menu, looking for the respective program that he had put it in.

And then he looked to his right. The folder was open, having been tossed to the side to make way for the horrible video of Milton's affront to humanity. Truthfully, the Spartan agreed with the Air Force lieutenant on some level. As it was, the prisoner was going to be a drain on resources, unless he could find some of the cryo-pods that Aeona had suggested for him to use. But simply becoming judge, jury, and executioner? He wasn't understating what that could- would- do to morale. Or his own thought processes.  
The Hordika - especially Onewa - weren't a factor in his decision process regarding the rogue pilot. Nope. Completely unrelated.

Opening the file, he scanned it for any useful information, and proceeded to look through even more sub-menus to open up an internal comm channel.

**METRU NUI - PO-METRU DISTRICT  
GA-TL1 LONGSWORD DELTA-11  
1200 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

SSgt. Nate Altfield growled in annoyance at the Longsword's HUD. Alerts plastered the screen- **'WARNING: OUT OF MISSILES**', **'WARNING: 55MM CANNONS OUT OF AMMO**', and the three dots representing his three remaining bombs in a tray of blinking red other dots. No matter how much ordnance he dropped on the slithering masses of worms, it didn't seem to make a dent in their aggressiveness. To make matters worse, he had attempted to bring the 120mm ventral rotary cannon online, but due to not having a gunner with him – as she had other ideas – he had been forced to use the pre-programmed targeting ledger from Wingbase. Which led into his current problem.

He wrenched the control sticks to the right, bringing the Longsword into a sharp turn- narrowly dodging the energy blast fired by his pursuers. Any automated system running the Wingbase targeting ledger only locked onto a very specific group of enemies, and ignored everything else. With the 120mm cannons being hard-locked onto attacking the spiders, he had very quickly become the target of enemy fliers. To make matters worse, the rudimentary targeting AI had been very effective in terms of shot placement, and had shredded the forward spider battle lines, thus making all of his earlier efforts null and void as the worms flowed in to recapture what they had lost during his initial attacks. And with the flyers putting pressure on him, he could not properly go on a bombing run without risking being hit. Nate knew that if he went down here, that would be the end. Wailing fat lady and all.

The 120mm rotary cannon was mounted in the perfect position to rid himself of the aggressor flyers, but the extremely basic targeting AI simply refused to engage them, rather preferring to continue mulching the defenders on the ground.

The flyers closed in again, forcing Nate to distance himself from them – and in so doing, flying out of the designated area of operations. When it came to pursuit, the Longsword was more than capable of leaving them in the dust. But in close quarters, where he was forced to perform evasive maneuvers? His wingspan was more of a curse than a boon.

The staff sergeant slowly turned around, as his path took him wide over worm territory. On his sensor board, he saw the dots that represented the aggressor fliers spreading outwards to cover his potential approaches.

Beneath him, the ground vibrated. He was directly above the largest concentration of creatures – and he had no ordnance worth a damn to deal with it. There was no boreholes, no pits- nothing he could use to drop bombs into. If he still had bunker busters, or excavation bombs, then he would be all set to make a hole and drop hellfire in.

He began his approach to the tower, as he had done multiple times already. This time, the fliers would not be raked with 55mm fire on approach- not like it did any good. For every flier he swatted down, another one would rise to take its place.

The bugs aligned to face him.  
And behind them, an IFF contact. Hotel-259. Sergeant Altfield smirked. '_Surprise, you-_'

**METRU NUI – COLISEUM LOCAL  
F-41 BROADSWORD HOTEL-259  
1300 METERS ABOVE SEA LEVEL**

Five missiles launched off of their rails, tracking into the insectoid flyers attempting to interdict the Longsword. Made to penetrate the outer hulls of light Covenant warships, the APTDHE rounds were gross overkill for the job, and generally went straight through the targeted enemies. The sensors within the ordnance barely registered the contact – at least, in comparison to that which would have resulted in the case of a collision between a Covie hull and the missile in question – and the ordnance continued to fly.

On the other side of the insect flyer formation, Delta-11 received a message from the Broadsword. Access codes to the missiles' guidance systems.

In the next ten seconds, the missiles changed course, turning straight down and impacting the thin strip of ground over one of the main worm-tendrils, the resulting detonations exposing it to open air. It didn't take long for two dihydrogen bombs to find their way into the new holes excavated for them.

All around the Coliseum approach, the worms seemed to convulse – well, more than they were already doing – and started to retract into the ground. Other pits opened up, as worms writhed to the surface, attempting to flee from the fire behind them. Some were lucky. Others were not.

They had bought some time.  
Now to deal with the damned flying bugs.

**METRU NUI - GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST – WINGBASE  
ENGINEERING DECK**

Turaga Dume was hopelessly lost. There was no way of telling what direction he was going in anymore – something a few floors ago had completely scrambled his sense of orientation. Thus, when the walls spoke to him, he had a feeling as if he was experiencing a vision.

"Turaga Dume. Are you there? Respond!"

And he had responded. He had queried the voice about its origins, and it had answered with a string of letters, numbers, and apparent designations that made no sense. According to the voice, he was nearing a very important location, something that needed his assistance to get working again.  
As he approached an imposing hatch, detailed with curving scripts, he regained his composure. Whatever had clouded his mind before had faded abruptly. The voice came again.

"Turaga, I am opening the door now. Behind it lies the main engineering room. I am, uh, sending a Sentinel to you now to show you what needs to be repaired. It's infinitely more advanced than my armor, but given how you repaired that so easily..."

"If I do this, will you let me go?" This was a trick. It had to be. The whole thing was a dream, yet another illusion that the Makuta was torturing him with. Carnivorous worm-Rahi underneath Po-Metru? Toa Hordika? The Visorak in control of Metru Nui? The Toa Mangai missing? All of it- it had to be false. The truth of such…

"Let you… what?" A pause. The voice seemed honestly surprised. The Makuta was nothing if not thorough.

"You have obviously brought me here against my will."

"No… well, technically, maybe. You did seem rather resistant to board that Hornet… though I don't blame you. For those that don't know them, the Toa do seem rather fearsome… but that is mostly appearances. Sure, they may have their own problems to deal with, but so do we. Such as running on five percent power, and really needing a kick up to forty." Yet another pause. "So if you don't mind…"

The hatch began to slide apart, segmented sections detaching from it and hovering off to the side. A specimen of the metallic Rahi species that he had seen all over his trek through the structure flew out of a square-ish hatch near the top of the hall and descended towards him.

"This is an Aggressor Sentinel. I have established control over it to assist you in repair efforts, though, compared to what Aeona could do, my programming is absolutely shoddy in comparison. It will move throughout the room beyond the door and point out damaged sections. I advise you keep it in sight."

**UNSC COMMAND POST – WINGBASE  
DECK 518 **

Lieutenant Plotz sprinted through the corridors of Wingbase. While he was apparently in no position to fly into combat – the hatches leading to the hangar bay were sealed shut anyway – his 'assignment' was to get down to the auxiliary control room and turn secondary power on.  
Every so often, his comm unit would activate as the tin-man shitstain back up in what they had been using as a primary command area would correct his path. He knew where he was going, damnit! He had seen and memorized the floor plan… though from all the sloping 'stairs' he went down, the floor plan didn't show what level his destination was on.

A thought occurred to him. '_What if he merely sent me down here to get me out of the way? He could seal the doors behind me… and leave me to rot!_' That thought soon disappeared- if the Spartan was so thin-skinned that he couldn't enforce frontier justice on a waste of oxygen like the rat bastard that used to be his friend...

"Well now, what have we here?" A contemplative tone appeared in said tin-man's voice. It was probably not even addressed to him- probably to his alien friends. There was one in the base, too- and he had no idea of it until the Spartan had brought it up. It would probably tear him apart if it got the chance- all aliens were the same, no matter what they may be. If there was one lesson humanity should have learned from the Great War, that was it. That there was no friends among the stars- and if humanity was to survive, they had to take the first shot and make it count.

More than seven minutes later, he turned a corner – and saw a blank wall at the end of one of the corridors. Angry that he could have been led on a wasted effort, he keyed the comm unit. "It's not here! It's just a wall!"

"What?" Confusion. Genuine confusion. "One second." Ten seconds passed- the Spartan was probably scrolling through screens again. "Uh, you should be staring directly at it."

"It's a wall, genius. Pure blank wall."

"Blank? No decorations?"

"Absolutely smooth, spotless, and a wall. Did you just send me down here so that I would get lost?"

"So no decorations. Hey, look around you. Nearly every other surface on this ship has some fancy decoration on it, whether it be lines, ridges, or other forms of such stuff. And this wall has nothing?" A pause. "And no."

"That's the door, isn't it?"

"Yep."

"And you could have opened it right from the start."

"Probably. Though given its importance-"

"You're an asshole."

As Plotz approached the door, a grin slid over his face. With such a small group of UNSC personnel, the tin man was unable to be picky on who he sent on missions. So when he had to get the power on to do something, there was only one person who he could send.

The UNSCAF pilot smirked. It may not have occurred to the Spartan, but if this were an actual control room, and what he was using was simply an interface console, then he could remotely shut down the xeno-friendly officer's access and seal him away in that room to die of asphyxiation or something. This was a ship, after all- closing the doors and locking them firmly while shutting down ventilation should work.  
Same thing with his onboard alien friend. Lock him down and seal his tomb. '_Heh, probably could invite the rest of them over as well. They seem to be chummy like that- bloody fools._'

The wall began to slide apart. If he hadn't known it was a door, he would have passed it by- and given its location and thickness, an attacking force could very easily be caught between a Sentinel swarm and a hard place.

The auxiliary command center's layout was eerily familiar. Unlike Covenant bridges, the Forerunners had more utilitarian designs, which was unsettlingly close to UNSC standard. Of course, there was stuff that one wouldn't find on a UNSC ship, but for the most part…

One of the terminals powered up as he neared it. The screen showed various status bars – repair efforts underway. Most of the power conduits had been repaired. Oddly enough, when it came to weapons - at least, weapons of any significant worth – it was as if no attention had been given to them. In fact, the majority of the weapons grid had been cannibalized- rent down for supplies. '_Short-sighted fool._' They could have been useful bargaining chips in establishing UNSC control… if he was even remotely willing to bargain with aliens.  
Even the propulsion systems were gone, replaced with a pump system bringing in water from the sea outside.

He sat down on the chair in front of the terminal and awaited his cue to fire up secondary power- and hoped that the base wouldn't simply explode when he did.

**UNSC COMMAND POST – WINGBASE  
MESS HALL**

Spartan Clarke leaned back on a repurposed cot. A small flock of Aggressor Sentinels moved in and out of the room, carrying packages of food in their manipulator arms, bringing them to another location. Constructors were also mixed within the group of Sentinels, working on the other cot. Looking over, he could see the steel slowly changing texture beneath the small Sentinels' constructor beams.  
Internal direct-visual surveillance system coverage was sketchy at best, but he could see the UNSCAF Lieutenant in the auxiliary control room, and – via Sentinel overwatch – Turaga Dume in main Engineering.  
The Turaga had a rather irritated look in his eyes. '_I might be a bit irritated too, if I was being used as a repair tool…_' Yet another two windows had been opened, with holographic control boards set up on them. Both controlled very specific Sentinels- a single Aggressor and an Enforcer. The Aggressor was used to show his impromptu repairman where his efforts were most needed, and the Enforcer ferried him to that location. '_Yet another distraction._'

Delta-11 was on its way back to Wingbase, reporting that it had exhausted its supply of available munitions. Hotel-259 was engaged with enemy fliers, shredding them with fast-moving strafing runs from range.

The hordilekgolo had been pushed back, their numbers curtailed by an underground wall of fire. It wouldn't last. Something in the list of items at the Le-Metru operations post had opened up another option.

He opened the Longsword comm channel window again. "Delta-11, change of plans. Redirect to coordinates I'm sending you. Area is marked POSIT-ONE. Initiate holding pattern there."

"I see the coordinates. Heading out now. Mind telling me what this is about?"

"I need open comms with the Le-Metru base again. As far as I know, we don't have any spare munitions for any of the UNSC craft in Wingbase, nor do we really have anything in the way of heavy ordnance. Also, the Toa might get it in their heads to attempt an assault on the Coliseum to rescue the local population of civilians, and that's downright suicidal. Especially given how they only have a Hornet, and the entire garrison of spiders are on high alert." Another chime alerted him that the current repair actions were finished, with only two more critical breaks left. Placing his hands on both control pads, he began to guide the two assigned Sentinels to the closest damaged section.

Clouds of Constructor Sentinels filled the various Engineering spaces, double-checking the repaired sections. The Turaga's repair ability was working just as expected, with the damaged section rather quickly piecing itself back together. The Spartan had contemplated on whether or not Dume was part Huragok – or if the biomech's creators designed him for a similar purpose – but cut off that train of thought shortly-

"In position. Ready to relay comms."

'_Finally._' He set up the comm relay – after the process of programming the relay for the Broadsword, he had saved a template of what he needed to do. Of course, the only reason he was able to do anything at all was due to how interactive the Forerunner programming was. "To all local allied forces, this is Lieutenant Matt Clarke. Respo-"

"Spartan, what is going on? One of your kind had said that the Coliseum was under attack by the worm-Rahi!" Female voice. Nokama. Her tone was sharp, and was rather… demanding for an explanation. A part of Clarke's mind drew forth the image of his arm being trapped in a snack machine, with the principal of his high school looking at him disdainfully, nearly the same tone in her voice as she looked down on him…

"With all due respect, ma'am, comms are buggered something fierce here. I can't raise anything past the Sentinel Factory in Ta-Metru – the one the Visorak swarmed over while we were going for those kooky stones?"

The controlled Sentinels in Engineering stopped in front of the broken section, and the Turaga's mask glowed as he went to work. Again. Repairs were nearly complete – the small and moderate sections had been fixed up by the Constructors, which were now focusing on the second large section.  
And once that was done, all he had to do was get Turaga Dume to main Engineering control, turn on the safeties, and flick on secondary power. Lieutenant Plotz would then have to okay the process from aux control, and then… well, no more of this comm relay bullcrap.

"The worms have been dealt with for now, but they're still out there. It's only a matter of time before they recover – and I'm clear out of effective ordnance to dump on them."

Clarke heard a scuffling sound, followed by Vakama's voice chiming in. "Then we attack the Coliseum now, while the Visorak are pressing their advantage, and get the Matoran-"

"I don't think you understand. The Visorak are not pressing up into worm territory. They're holding position along the approaches to the structure. Going in now will just result in every single spider in the general area piling on you like Jackals at a meat roast."

"We cannot stand idly by and watch-"

"Which is why we're trying to come up with an alternative plan, one that doesn't see needless loss of life! Damn near every single spider deployment in the city is contracting inwards, to the Coliseum. Their command posts are lightly guarded at the moment, at least as far as I can tell. If you can get to the Ta-Metru Sentinel factory, I could possibly bring it online-"

A deep snarl echoed through the comm channel. "You dare to give my pack orders? In our own territory?"

_'Right. Hordika bullshit. More distractions to slow us down.'_ "Goddamnit, Vakama, I'm trying to prevent you from going off on some half-cocked suicide rescue mission that will result in the death of your _team_! If we bring the Sentinel factory back online, we can buy some more time for a less risky-"

The line went dead.

"Sir? I've lost the connection."

"Damnit!" Clarke stood up and delivered a brutal kick to the cot-chair he had been resting on. The modified contraption slid away from him. "Not much you can do out there now, Staff Sergeant. Bingo ammo is bingo ammo. Return to base." Sliding back to one of the previous windows, he smashed his fist against a holographic button and watched as text scrolled across the screen.

"Sir, I still have shots remaining for my 120. Targeting parameters are just messed up. It works fine, but if I try to shoot anything other than the spiders-"

The SIV let out a growl of irritation, while throwing his hands up in a gesture of frustration towards the screen. "Aeona locked down access to the targeting ledgers. It's why I can't simply redirect the Sentinels of Wingbase to hit the goddamn worms. Nothing I can do can fix that, Staff Sergeant."

"Sir, what if I went to get the Ta-Metru-"

"No. You don't have MJOLNIR – and even with MJOLNIR, CQB is not something you want to engage in with the Visorak. They'll devour you if you go in there. Return to base, pilot, there's nothing more that you can do."  
A chime alerted him that the repairs were complete. The Spartan switched channels. "Turaga Dume. Thank you for assisting with repair efforts. There's just one thing left to do- prime the core for immediate power-up. I'm sending you a waypoint now."

He waited a few seconds, and then realized his folly. "Whoops. Forgot you weren't UNSC for a second. Moving the Sentinels over now. After that, I'll guide you to an exit."

Again, he switched channels. "Lieutenant Plotz, would you kindly stop picking your nose next to the 100,000 year old piece of technology?"

"There's nothing else to do here! The damn system doesn't even have Solitaire on it! No Solitaire, no poker, no p-"

"…Riiiight. System should be ready to power up soon. Sentinels are currently checking the Covenant craft for anti-tampering devices, though they haven't found anything yet."

"And the last one concerns me… how?"

"Because we might need them in the long run. Hold up- got an incoming call." Switching channels yet again, he keyed the hangar bay doors to open and allow the Longsword to come in to land. "Staff Sergeant, you may suddenly notice a Forerunner craft come to rest in the hangar. Don't engage it – it's friendly."

"Uh, heh, I'll just wait outside then. Don't want it to land on top of Delta-11 by accident. Hold up, I'm patching someone in."

Daimia's gleeful voice broke into the conversation. "This is Hotel-259 reporting in! Enemy fliers have been dealt with! Autocannon at, uh, fifty-five percent ammo remaining. Still have three missiles left, sirs!"

"Copy, Corporal. Initiate holding pattern at three kilometers above the surface, wide passage around worm territory. Any pockets near the surface, light them up with short, controlled bursts. Have to switch comm channel again, stand by."

'_Back to Turaga Dume…_' He slid between the comm panels again. '_One final task._'

"Turaga, the room in front of you is Engineering control. Opening door now – enter and approach the third console."

"Once I do this-"

"Yes. You will be free to go- though you really don't want to do that. In case you haven't noticed, the city's a damn battleground, with creepy spiders everywhere. Sure, a third of Ga-Metru is safe now, but outside of that…"

"What happened in my absence?"

"That's tough to explain. See, I literally just got here, so I'm not all that clued in to what this city was like pre-spider invasion. The way Nokama describes it, though, it was one hell of a vacation destination."

"Nokama. The teacher?"

"Yep." The Spartan sighed. "Once we get Wingbase up and running, comms should be fixed, and I won't have to send out stuff to get in contact with anybody anymore."

The Spartan watched the screen as the Turaga approached the third console. A few taps on the holographic interface brought the console to life, though its own glow was faint. "We don't have much time, Turaga. Follow my instructions carefully. You should see a keyboard in front of you. Type out command-start-prompt-"

"I do not know this language."

Silence. "Shit." '_So close…_' He ran the translation program- and an error message popped up.

WARNING  
INSUFFICIENT CLEARANCE TO ACCESS SYSTEM  
REPEATED ATTEMPTS TO ACCESS SYSTEM WITHOUT PROPER CLEARANCE WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE ADDITION TO LOCAL SENTINEL TARGETING LEDGER

"Shit."

**UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
AUXILIARY BRIDGE**

"Lieutenant Plotz, respond!" Zachary Plotz shook himself awake again. Over the past four minutes, he had been drifting in and out of lucidity. At one moment, he dreamed that he was standing on the bridge of an UNSC warship as it fought tooth-and-nail against a Covenant destroyer. Another moment had him in chains as a grinning face leered down at him. Another moment had him in the same cot as Corporal Blake- and then that shithead Spartan broke the illusion just as the dream was getting interesting.

"Wha-you-wan?" Plotz tried to growl out, but the room was spinning and he couldn't choose which direction was up and which was down and which was orange and which was blue…

"Open a secondary receiving channel, something that I can send stuff to, between me and the connected comm channel. It has to be from your station, not mine – at least you have what goes for administrator access at the moment."

Plotz blinked. "Administra-what? I'm the king?" He blinked again – and Tala Webbard, his college crush, was off to his left side, placing a crown on his head. And then she started descending-

"Hey! Pay attention!"

"Oh, I am." A chortle left his throat. "Tala, not now! I have a dread to nought!" This time a giggle spewed from his mouth.

"Your friend sounds injured." An old, dry voice broke into the conversation. "You did not mention others-"

"Yeah, yeah, I was getting to that part. Lieutenant! Focus!" '_For all that is good and holy, I don't want to hear him reliving this shit- I hope he forgives me…_'

"Whoo! Tala, I said not now!"

"One-Delta-Ten."

Silence. "What… what did you say?"

More silence. Then- "This is One-Delta-Ten! We're pinned down at Manassas Spaceport, Covenant corvette raining hell down on us if we try to leave! Shit! They hit One-Delta-Eight!" Someone completely different was on the other line - someone of Viery ancestry.

"No… not again…"

The old voice broke in again. "What is…"

The panicked Hungarian voice cut him off. "Covenant forces approaching! We're trapped! Any UNSC forces on this frequency, can you assist?"

"I… this is... this is Lieutenant Zachary Plotz, UNS-"

"Thank God! I thought we were going to die! There are defense batteries set up around our position, but they're offline! My co-pilot has software patches to bring them back up and put a few rounds through that goddamn Covie corvette, but we need somebody to help us upload them! How close are you to a console?"

"Right here in front of me, sir!"

"Good! Can you open a frequency to this channel? If possible, try and use admin settings-"

"I am the King of Administrations! My dread shall nought tonight!" He reached out and slammed his fingers into the hardlight screen in front of him, rapidly tapping out a list of commands and hitting the execute button. For fifteen seconds, nothing happened. "Nothing's happening!"

"Give it time… Doom! You runnin' the program?"

Six seconds later, the screen changed. A row of red lights flickered down the new display. On the top blinked a single red rectangle. "I'm in! What do I do now?"

The man's voice was panicked. "Activate the system! The Covies are almost here- I can hear them banging on the doors to the hangar bay!" Indeed, impact noises seemed to echo through the comm channel, reverberating around the room... and inside the pilot's head.

"How do I do-"

"The big red button! Punch it!"

Throwing his arm backwards, Plotz let out a war-cry – and clenching his fist hard enough to draw blood, he brought it crashing straight into the red rectangle.

The display cracked. His fist shifted. The rectangle flashed green.  
The rows of lights followed.

The top of the hardlight display shattered.

AN: Regarding Sidorak, I am using the Web of Shadows interpretation of him. Plus, it probably wasn't all that good for his [morale] to suddenly have his big fight - and nigh-on guaranteed win against the Toa (were it not for the Tahtorak showing up in canon, the Zivon would have likely swept the whole damn party) - hot-dropped on by angry metal bees.

...Also, I don't actually remember how the Coliseum approaches were set up. Are there actual land bridges connecting the structure to the rest of the city, or is it all chutes and water?


	20. Pest Control (1)

**CHAPTER 20  
PEST CONTROL PART ONE**

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
GA-METRU DVZ**

With the majority of the Visorak in full retreat for the Coliseum, the Sentinels were capitalizing on the enemy's stripped-down garrisons. Aggressor Sentinels flew through the streets and canals, burning away all traces of webbing. Constructor Sentinels followed behind, repairing damaged buildings and ensuring structural integrity for former spider-controlled command post analogues via atomic reconstitution of pre-existing materials in damaged sections into adamantine patches.

The front line continued to expand outwards, now almost unconstrained by hostile forces, aside from those in spider spires. Before, the Visorak had been able to contest the expansion rate and prevent the Sentinels from gaining ground, at least through sheer weight of numbers. Now, with reinforcements no longer being sent to the district, the UNSC-controlled Forerunner automatons were able to make massive gains in the acquisition of liberated territory.

Wildlife was also beginning to pop up in the DVZ. One such specimen, a Taku bird, flew in close to Wingbase proper. It made three circles before it came in for a landing, resting its wings. Not many places were safe from the Visorak for long.

And then the metal structure it had touched down on began to light up. Blue lines coursed up its sides and top, seeming to pulse with energy. Other sections lit up as well, red and green shining out against the darkness.

Now once again unsettled, the bird spread its wings and took off. An array of tubes turned to lead its flight path, but remained silent… and then one came to brilliant life, discharging a meter-wide beam of light that missed the Taku by less than ten meters.

Wingbase was back to operational capacity.

-

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
AUXILIARY COMMAND CENTER**

"WHOOOOO! Take that, Covenant scum!" On the screen, a Covenant SDV corvette splintered apart underneath the impact of a Strident-launched MAC round – which, if Lieutenant Zachary Plotz would have been any more attentive, would have noticed the difference between the projectiles of a previously stated 'defense battery' and that of a shipborne MAC. "One-Delta-Ten, you are cleared to launch! Our dread has noughted!"

There was no response. "One-Delta-Ten, ya there?"

"Lieutenant Plotz. You did it. You saved them." He knew that voice. '_No way…_'

"Ad- Admiral Hood!" He attempted to salute, but only managed to clumsily slap his hand on his face.

"Get yourself checked out, son. You had a nasty bump on the head when we found you."

"Found me… what? The last thing I remember-"

"You just saved over six thousand civilians from Covenant attack. No matter what anybody says, you did good work out there. You got them all off Reach alive."

"Yeah. Yeah, I did. I… I think I'm going to go back to sleep now."  
And just like that, his eyes slid closed and he collapsed to the side, slipping off of the chair-equivalent that had held him up. And as he dropped into unconsciousness, Tala rose up into his field of vision, gently smiling…

-

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
EN ROUTE TO AUXILIARY COMMAND CENTER**

"Why did you deceive him?" Turaga Dume's voice was deliberate. Accusatory.

"Because he would have never followed orders otherwise. Plus, given his state of mind, it was probably the best I could have done." The Spartan paused, stepping aside for a group of Sentinels to move past. Held within an assortment of gravitational tethers was the second cot – and on that was the traitorous Command Chief Master Sergeant. The Sentinels were merely bringing him to the closest medical-bay analogue, but the scathing look that was directed his way caused Lieutenant Matt Clarke to consider simply dumping him outside instead.

Of course, that simply wouldn't do. '_Martinez ain't getting off that easily_,' the Spartan thought to himself as the Sentinels passed by. "He had a rough day. Maybe this will lighten him up in the long run – and depending on how bad his head was banged around, perhaps he will remember this as truth rather than fiction."

Dume did not reply right away. "…And what of me? What of Metru Nui?"

"You are free to leave – just follow the Aggressor Sentinel and it will lead you to an exit – but I really don't think that's a good call. While I can easily lock down Ga-Metru and kick the Visorak's mandibles in if they try to re-secure it – especially with Wingbase now running on secondaries – the rest of the city is a different matter altogether."

"The Toa Mangai-"

"Right. That. Look, you can continue along to the exit, but don't leave until I get the Toa on the horn. They can probably explain the situation in far greater detail than I can, especially since I now have to work on establishing a more ergonomic command center, as well as assigning Sentinels to set up actual living quarters."

"I can handle that."

The Spartan stopped dead, his eyes widening in recognition. "Aeona?"

"Not quite. I am but a fragment of Aeona. Her… curiosity. Her protectiveness. A large portion of her kindness. Given our location, and that I was simply created to act as a local intelligence for this base in the event that the greater part of me were to be destroyed in the field, I do believe that my designation should be Winona. At least, that is what Aeona herself had called me, though I believe that that was simply a comment made in jest."

"..."

"Yes, that is a fitting name." A holographic image sprung into existence next to the Spartan – Aeona's avatar, though changed. Younger. "Hmm. Why are you going around without your armor on, Spartan?"

"It- it got damaged. Overclocked the jetpack. Fried the power systems."

"I see. I also see that the Sentinels have taken it to one of the armories on the ship." She began to pace around the Spartan. "Why?"

"To, uh, put it into storage. At least for now. It's just dead weight right now, anyway-"

"Odd. My scans are showing that it is actually in quite good condition. About the same condition that it was as of when I lost contact with Aeona. Its reactor system does need a bit of work, but…" The synthetic intelligence trailed off, waving a hand through the air as if rubbing it over something. "Nothing a Constructor can't fix."

"Aeon- Winona? Can you change the targeting parameters of the Sentinels?"

An irritated expression flashed over the intelligence's holographic face, before vanishing as quickly as it arrived. "No. And not through lack of trying. I've been catching up with the situation ever since I came back online – a big thanks to your interface device and how it was able to alter your voice, by the way – and…" She shuddered. "The lekgolo subspecies you have encountered. You wish to deploy Sentinels from Wingbase against it."

"Yes. But the targeting ledger-"

"-Is hardcoded to Aeona's access only. Not mine. As I said, I'm not the full Aeona. I'm just her nice side." Her eyes dropped, and she wringed her hands. "And I have no electronic warfare capabilities, either, before you ask. Sure, I can control a group of Sentinels and send them out, but attempting to hack into systems… well, that's just not part of my skill-set."

Lieutenant Clarke inwardly cursed, before remembering what he was supposed to be doing at the moment. He began to move again, picking up speed. Winona's image matched his velocity. "Can you get in contact with the Toa's Hornet?"

She rolled her eyes. "Easy. Comm grid is coming back online now. One moment. By the way, you should have consulted with others first before giving the locals UNSC technology-"

"People keep telling me that. I was incapacitated at the time. Better giving it to the Toa rather than leaving them parked on the roof."

"I see. The UNSC JAG might not see it from that perspective, though."

"We've already gone AWOL. Giving the locals a bit of help is just one more item on the checklist."

Winona folded her arms as she hovered alongside the now-sprinting Spartan. "And where are you going?"

"Hangar bay. Forerunner escape pod. By the way, why didn't you say earlier that it was capable of self-powered flight?"

Again, that look of irritation. "The impact shook me up a bit, if you recall. Plus, I was busy interacting with that fancy armband you're wearing – or did you forget that bit too?"

Clarke chuckled as he almost rebounded off of a corner, performing a short turn. "At least you haven't lost your ability to make sharp retorts."

"I may have lost some of myself, but my core personality is still unchanged. Just the more military portions are gone."

"Good to hear. Wait, could you do that thing with the Constructor that you mentioned earlier? Repairing my armor?"

This time it was Winona's turn to chuckle. Or perhaps laugh would be the better term. "Already done, Lieutenant. I'm having a few Sentinels bring it to the hangar bay now." She tilted her head. "And what about the… Turaga… in Engineering?"

"He did well, and I told him I'd show him to an exit afterwards and let him go. Take control of the Aggressor Sentinel he's been following around and show him to the main entrance. If he wants to leave, he can leave – we've purged the Visorak from the local area. As long as he stays within the DVZ, he should be good… but task a few Major Aggressors to watch over him anyway."

"Interesting. From what I can remember of my military mind, she would have informed you that due to the biomechanical being's work with Forerunner technology, one could argue that he knows too much…"

"A deal's a deal, Aeon- Winona. I have nothing to gain from hurting him, nor would I want to. Humanity is better than that."

"Of course, Lieutenant. Do you wish for me to remove the residue of my… sister's militancy?"

"Oh, hell no. Nothing that extreme." The Spartan sighed. "Just let the Turaga out, and designate a few Sentinels to protect him. Just that, nothing else."

It took all of seven minutes to reach the hangar bay. The Forerunner escape pod had arrived, and settled down in the corner. SSgt. Altfield was just leaving his Longsword, which had landed close to the door, when the Spartan entered the large chamber.

"Sir," the Staff Sergeant shouted, snapping to attention. A wave of the SIV's hand – a signal to stand down – had the pilot slightly relaxing, but not by much. "Permission to rearm with Hotel-258's load of ordnance and go back out there?"

"Permission denied, Staff Sergeant. We don't have a deck crew to do that, and I would rather leave such tasks to said deck crew. Take a breather – we don't want to lose you to an easily-avoidable mistake."

"Sir, Daimia is still out there-"

"I have given a direct order. Stand down. I will need somebody to watch the base while I am gone."

"With all due respect- wait. Gone? Gone where?"

"I'm going to take this escape pod, rendezvous with the Toa, and get a few of them to help me go down to the underwater wreckage of the dreadnought's main body and retrieve its slipspace drive. Remember the logs from Reach? How NAVSPECWAR took down that enormous Covenant carrier?"

SSgt. Altfield's eyes widened incrementally, and his jaw dropped a few centimeters. "Damn. Dump the worms right into slipspace. That'll do it."

"That's what I'm hoping. Cut out the main hive, and the rest of the worms die off-"

Winona's image flared into existence right next to the Spartan, causing the two UNSC personnel to flinch backwards in surprise. "If I may, Lieutenant, I have something interesting that you might like to hear."

"Who the heck is this?" The Longsword pilot, flinching due to the sudden unexpected appearance of the UNSC synthetic intelligence, retreated a few steps. Winona slid her eyes over to the staff sergeant, a smirk flitting across her face. "UNSC AI AON-873-"

"Winona, nod hello to Staff Sergeant Altfield. Altfield, meet Winona. There, introduction done, what were you going to tell me?"

"There's something about the worms that being connected to that area that keeps them… focused. Without a connection, they either tear themselves apart… or just outright die. It's like their own biology consumes them. Even the Lekgolo subspecies recorded on the ruins of Installation 04-Alpha did not have the same problem – though they were just as vicious." The projection folded her arms around her front. "I must admit, I had a few nanoseconds of unpleasant thoughts run through my head when I compared the genetic makeup of this new species and that of the archived thanolekgolo. Reports from surviving personnel indicate that the 'death worms' aggressively seek out powered technology to devour – and Wingbase is the third biggest power source within three hundred kilometers. Just in case you were wondering, the worms haven't come at us yet… so either they're not hungry, which given their current behaviour is a complete non-starter of an idea, or they are not the same subspecies."

"No. They're not the same subspecies. Long story. But with every second we waste, the worms get closer to overcoming the firebreak. Staff Sergeant, you're going to remain here, because I can't trust Plotz or Martinez to be alone in this base by themselves – and no, Winona doesn't count for this. No offense meant, Winona."  
He paused. "In fact, Winona, could you possibly remove Plotz – without hurting him – from the auxiliary bridge? The thought of him being in there with no oversight scares the hell out of me. Put him in the old mess hall – should be safe enough for him."

The UNSC intelligence nodded, and vanished. SSgt. Altfield looked as if he wanted to protest, then thought better of it. "Godspeed, sir."

"I'll need it. Take good care of the base while I'm gone. Once I get the drive, you'll get the opportunity to deploy it."

That being said, the Spartan sprinted to the Forerunner pod and climbed in. A few seconds passed. And then the craft began to glow, lines of power glowing on its surface. Around fifteen more seconds went by before the pod started to move, first gaining altitude before rushing forward and – once outside – banking heavily to the left and out of sight.

-

**METRU NUI – LE-METRU DISTRICT  
HORNET ECHO-4831  
519 METERS FROM EDGE OF DISTRICT**

"You did not need to throw the communication device away, Vakama." The only response the former Toa of Water received was a growl of irritation as the mutated Fire Toa glared at her.

"I have already stated why. He does not have authority over me or my pack. He has-"

"Your _pack_?" Nokama's voice was filled with disbelief – and a slight bit of restrained anger. "Vakama. We are a team. Not a collection of Rahi. And while the Spartan may not fully understand why we must at least attempt to rescue as many Matoran as possible, despite what may happen… he is still an ally."

Far beneath the Hornet, the city-scape lay covered with webs and dense green fog. Every so often, they passed over – or near to - a Visorak watch-tower. The closer they got to the Coliseum, the more often they popped up. It was rather depressing, especially in comparison to what the city used to look like from above.

Matau himself was currently somber – a definite change from his usual demeanor. And then the static hit.

Feedback whined through the speakers inside the cockpit, almost instantly driving Matau to the edge of insanity, the high-pitched noise causing his head to feel as if it were slowly being crushed. The Hornet immediately leaned to the right in a sharp turn as the Air Hordika crumpled forwards against the instrument panel, his head buried in his hands in an attempt to stop the noise.

Outside, Nuju felt himself begin to slide off the skid, and just barely managed to hook the tool that had become merged to his right hand into one of the foot-hold rungs. Whenua was luckier – spending most of his life below the ground kept him on edge if and when he ever flew. And before he became a Toa, that happened only once – when he was tasked with flying out to Ta-Metru in order to oversee the loading and carrying of a lizard-like Rahi that had made its home in one of the central forges.

After nearly eight seconds of weightlessness, the airship straightened out. Onewa, on the top of the Hornet, unclenched his clawed hand from around the left tubular weapon assembly, before pounding on the top of the transparent canopy. "Air-head! Watch where you're flying!"

The green Hordika tried to adjust himself in the cockpit so as to glare at the changed Toa of Stone, but due to insufficient space, could not fully do so. His mouth moved, but Onewa couldn't make out the words, due to the covering canopy. With one final mean stare, Matau turned back to the controls.

"What was that about," Nokama asked, almost breathlessly. The sudden tilt of the Hornet had caused her to think that the airship had either been hit or was about to crash – either way, she had prepared herself to jump at the best opportunity.

"Don't know. Maybe Matau just got tired? Maybe-"

"Uh, guys? A little help?" Nuju's voice echoed from below. Onewa leaned over the side of the light aircraft to notice the Ice Hordika hanging on for dear life, with Whenua trying to reach down to pull him up… but failing to reach far enough, as the handhold preventing the Toa of Earth from joining his brother was not close enough to really help – and if he were to let go of it, the skid wouldn't provide enough of a foothold to help Nuju back on. Leaning out over the edge, Whenua judged just how far he could angle himself without causing his center of gravity to shift too much – and found himself too short.

Only one thing to do. He looked up at Onewa. "We have to go down! Tell Matau to set down on something!"

The Toa of Stone stared at him with widened eyes. Landing – even for a second – could see them overrun by the spiders below. But the alternative… he leaned forward and smashed his fist on the canopy again. "Matau! Go down! Go down now! We have to land!" This time he accompanied his speech with gestures, pointing at the ground as he shouted.

Matau's expression mirrored his own a few seconds ago. He opened his mouth-

"Nuju's about to fall! Land somewhere! We can't lift him back up! Stupid airship isn't designed for it!" In the back of his mind, he wondered whether or not all of the foreigner's airships were designed like this – either where their passengers could easily fall out, or were otherwise vulnerable. Nokama and Whenua had told him about another type of craft – one larger than their current deathtrap, one where the entire team could have sat comfortably in the back, with plenty of space left over. When Matau asked where it was now, the Toa of Earth had simply gestured to the blast crater that the Zivon had apparently crawled out of after the airship detonated underneath it. "Couldn't have been that safe if it blew up like that," Matau had said. Onewa had to agree.

The fleeting thought was pushed out of his mind as a determined look set over Matau's face, and the aircraft immediately began to descend. As the green Toa turned to face the controls again, Onewa saw a glimpse of his mouth still moving.

-

**METRU NUI – TA-METRU DISTRICT  
FALCO-CLASS ESCAPE POD  
EN ROUTE TO HORNET ECHO-4831**

"Copy that, Matau. I'm on my way to render covering fire. As I said, I was coming to see you anyway – I'm going to need some help with some underwater diving." Spartan Clarke reached across the escape pod, picking up his helmet and putting it on. The original visor had been replaced with a grey metallic material – though when he attached it to the armor, it immediately shifted into transparency.

A pause from the other end of the line. "Whew, there sure are a lot of them down there. Trying to find a place that I can set down without immediately being overrun, but we're probably going to have to take off almost immediately. Not much time to do any sort of exchange."

"We could do a mid-air passenger exchange. I trust your piloting skills enough for it – and I know this thing is capable of hovering too."

"I- how far out are you? I don't know how long that metal rod will last – it gave out from under you, so…"

"Almost at your position. Check 12:35."

From the Hornet's perspective, all its pilot would see was a rapidly approaching speck - if the pilot would have been familiar with said directional identification system. But from Clarke's perspective, he saw the entire Hornet's crew up close – saw Nuju hanging off of the side, saw the foothold beginning to shear apart – even the tiniest crack did not escape resolution. On the side, a countdown ticked lower – the system extrapolating data from the sensors in order to provide a precise time when the rung would finally snap.

The Hornet was never designed for a Spartan to hang off the edge while putting their entire weight on a single hold – never mind a Toa.

"Matau, I'm going to need you to climb up as high as you can. I'm going to have to come to a complete stop to do this, and I'm going to need some breathing space."

"Wha-"

"Just trust me on this, okay? Perform immediate increase in altitude. I don't want to get hit by the Visorak as I hold position – and I need enough time to catch Nuju safely. Go up!"

For a second, the Hornet continued heading downwards – though much closer to the pod now, it still wasn't enough. And then it stopped. In full resolution, he saw Onewa look down in clear disbelief at the Toa in the cockpit – and the Hornet began its climb.

Onewa banged on the canopy to obviously get Matau's attention, but the Toa of Air gave no indication he had heard. The look on Nuju's face was that of dumbfounded horror. Clarke could almost see the calculations running in his head – how high they were, how far down the ground was, how fast he would be going when he hit the ground, and how many pieces his armor would shatter into – to say nothing of his body – upon contact. The expression at the moment of realization would have been almost hilarious in any other context.

The escape pod descended below Matau's sight-line – and, unbeknownst to him, engaged cloaking systems, rendering it invisible to detection. He continued to climb, ignoring the pounding above him, the muffled cries of his friends – only focusing on the altitude meter as it climbed. And then he felt the jolt.

The entire aircraft seemed to lurch upwards as a twanging sound was heard. Matau felt something inside seem to drop along with what he knew was Nuju...

-  
**METRU NUI – LE-METRU DISTRICT  
HORNET ECHO-4831**

The Toa in question felt terror grip him tight as he began his unassisted descent – and then he stopped short. Just as the hold had finally came loose, Whenua had tried to make a grab for him, nearly slipping off himself – but managing to catch the Ice Hordika's mutated Toa tool with his hand.  
Even feeling the teeth of the weapon digging into his clenched palm, the Toa of Earth did not let go. Wrapping his legs around the strut, he began to lift the Toa up, fighting against gravity as he did so. And then he came to a problem.

To lift the Toa of Ice all the way up onto the strut, he would have to shift himself aside. There was barely enough space as is, and if he tried to stand up again, they both would fall. The Hornet immediately stopped climbing, and simply hovered in place.

Above him, Onewa was pounding on the canopy, trying his best to get Matau's attention. The Toa of Air seemed to be in the middle of another conversation, which further cemented the Stone Hordika's thoughts that the mutated Air Toa had finally snapped. Finally, pulling back his claw club, Onewa brought it directly down on the protective glass cover.

The sound of shattering glass filled the air. "Air-head, if you don't-"

"Why did you harsh-act like that?"

"OH HELL, WHAT DID YOU JUST BREAK?"

Onewa immediately keyed into that voice. "What the…"

"He's assist-helping!"

The Stone Hordika bristled with barely restrained fury. "If you don't immediately put this airship down, I will-"

"Matau, I am en route with Plan B. Just tell Whenua to hold on until I get there-"

"We don't need your help, stranger!"

On the strut, however, things were rather quickly increasing in tension. Nuju's toothed tool was gouging deep into Whenua's armored palm. Wincing in pain, he tried to lighten the mood. "Now do you see why I don't like heights, scholar?"

Nuju's reply took the form of a groan of pain. Being suspended in mid-air by his Toa tool – which had been molded directly into the structure of his right arm – was slowly taking its toll. His Hordika side was both snarling to lash out at something – anything – and gibbering in fear of the open space beneath him.

And then the mutated Toa of Ice felt something beneath his feet. A solid surface. For a second, his feet slid off of whatever was rising up beneath him, but they soon found purchase. He started to rise.

The communications system in the Hornet's cockpit keyed on again. "I will be decloaking now. Please avoid shooting me down."

Onewa, and to a lesser extent, Whenua, glanced over the side of the aircraft, while Nuju continued to stare straight forward, repeating the internal mantra of not to look down. At first, all they saw was the fog and web-wrapped city… and then their view of such distorted, soon re-coalescing into an oval-shaped airship over twice as large as the Hornet. And Nuju was standing on top of it, slowly rising to be level with the skid.

"Matau's Plan B, everybody... cutting it a little close there, aren't you, Nuju."

It didn't take long for the Toa of Ice to be able to slip back onto the skid. With the danger passed, Whenua finally unclenched his hand – and hissed loudly as the pain finally set in in force.

The ovoid airship continued to rise once Nuju had been re-deposited on the side of the Hornet, only this time also beginning to circle around the UNSC craft in order to face the left side. A piece of the outside hull flared orange, seemingly burning up from within, to reveal a hatch. Less than a second after the hull section completely disintegrated, the hatch slid open. A familiar armored figure stood in the now open frame.

**METRU NUI – LE-METRU DISTRICT  
FALCO-CLASS ESCAPE POD  
HOLDING POSITION LEVEL WITH HORDIKA HORNET**

"Almost didn't get here in time. Quite lucky that I got everything sorted out when I did, huh?"

Vakama spoke first. "What are you doing here?"

The Spartan's visor depolarized as he faced both Nokama and Vakama. "I couldn't just let one of your fireteam die like that. Not when I could do something to prevent it."

The SIV sighed. "But of course, there is another reason." Almost absentmindedly, he walked to the edge of the doorway and sat down, his legs dangling out of the side of the Forerunner craft.

"Vakama, I have also come to speak my case in person, though there is little time left. Going into the Coliseum right now will lead to the certain death of your entire team. The Visorak will waste little time reversing their course and overrunning you with sheer numbers." Another sigh.

"I have a plan to deal with this worm problem, but I require the assistance of Nokama for this, as it involves diving underwater. As for the rest of you, there is a Sentinel factory in Ta-Metru – if you can get it up and running, I can send the Sentinels at either the worms – or use them to support your own attempt at assaulting the Coliseum, if you still wish to go through with that plan afterwards."

Vakama opened his mouth to speak, but the SIV interrupted him. "If you are going to growl at me and tell me off, then I will simply state this. The firebreak is close to failing. We have nearly run out of ordnance to toss at the worms. Once the firebreak goes down, it's game over. Matoran are dead, Visorak are dead, and I'm SOL. Either help me, or go ahead and waste your lives attempting to break through the nigh-on entirety of the goddamn Visorak Horde."

That said, he leaned back and awaited the answer.


	21. Pest Control (2)

**CHAPTER 21  
PEST CONTROL PART TWO**

**METRU NUI – GA-METRU DISTRICT  
UNSC COMMAND POST DESIGNATE WINGBASE  
HANGAR BAY #12**

"Say, uh, Winona?"

"Yes, Staff Sergeant Nathan Altfield?"

"Just Altfield will do, ma'am… just wondering, when is this re-armament process going to be completed?"

"It will be done when it is done, Staff Sergeant Altfield. Do keep in mind that I am currently deconstructing a foreign liquid at the atomic level in order to create an entirely different element from it, and then mixing the result with another element to create a very dangerous substance. To say that I need some degree of concentration for this work is an understatement."

"You're an AI, aren't you? Can't you do this sort of thing blindfolded?"

"I am a fragment of an AI, yes. Not in full. And while I could easily assign one of my subroutines to perform this task, I would rather attend to this matter personally. While this particular incendiary mixture is not overly reactive with Forerunner adamantine, I do not wish to make any mistakes. Please do not rush me."

At the same time as the fragmented AI conversed with the Longsword pilot, she had also tapped into the comm systems in order to communicate with the currently deployed Broadsword. Corporal Daimia Blake was about as accepting of her existence as the UNSCAF Staff Sergeant was – as long as Winona did not attempt to mess around with her newly acquired 'bird'. The UNSC intelligence acquiesced to her request, and simply informed her that incendiary ordnance was currently being manufactured to replace her almost-exhausted supply.

"Glad to hear it. Is Nate en-route yet?"

"_Negative. UNSC IFF Delta-Eleven is currently being retrofitted with enhanced defensive capabilities and better engines for the task at hand. I can detect that the… hordilekgolo… have backed off considerably since the firebreak was deployed, though I can surmise that that will not last for much longer._"

"Sooo… do you have something else to talk about, or…"

"_Not at the moment._"

**METRU NUI – LE-METRU DISTRICT  
FALCO-CLASS ESCAPE POD  
EN ROUTE TOWARDS GA-METRU DISTRICT**

"Thank you, once again, for agreeing to this plan."

"If this does not work, stranger-"

"Then we're all boned. Don't ask." Clarke stretched out his right hand and tapped the comm station, switching channels back to Wingbase.

"This is Lieutenant Clarke, reporting in. The Toa have agreed to aid us. Nokama, Whenua, and Onewa are on board, and we are proceeding towards the crash site."

"_Copied, SPARTAN_," Winona responded. "_Be advised, I have taken it upon myself to re-arm Longsword Delta-Eleven with jury-rigged incendiaries to keep the firebreak active. Also, Broadsword Hotel-Two-Five-Nine is on its way back to base to be re-armed as well._"

"Say again, Winona? I thought-"

"_I am not capable of acting in an offensive manner – as I said, I cannot actively engage targets. I can, however, implement my considerable knowledge of substances and my current control of Forerunner assembly technology to make sure those under my protection are able to defend themselves, or carry out their orders._"

"So, could you possibly just fabricate a slipspace drive and therefore eliminate the need for me to go deep sea diving with Onewa in tow?"

"_If only. Unfortunately, Forerunner slipspace drives are quite complex, and even UNSC ones are outside my current construction capability._"

A shout echoed from the rear of the Forerunner impromptu transport craft. "Hey, stranger! Mind letting the rest of us in on your conversation?" Clarke sighed. Obviously it would look strange to outside observers – his helmet slightly bobbing up and down, the lower part of his right arm – unconstrained by the lack of weapons or control sticks – slightly waving around as he talked…

"Sorry, Winona. Lock in the course to take us down to the wreck." He paused. "And please consult me next time before you start turning parts of Wingbase into weapon labs. Clarke out."

Turning to face the Hordika, all three of whom were resting against the wall, Clarke depolarized his helmet's visor and reactivated the speakers. "Sorry about that. Discussion with your team leader. He's a bit leery about this plan. Truth be told, I'm not all that comfortable with it too."

"Perhaps you should fill us in on the whole plan then? Since, of course, the last time I followed a half-baked plan, I ended up looking like this!"

Clarke blinked in confusion. "Wait… what? You…?"

"Long story. As you like to say, 'it's classified'." Onewa growled at the SIV.

"I… see." Clarke shrugged. "Plan's simple." Pulling up the interface device, he tapped out a few commands. On the side of the craft, a hardlight screen flashed into existence, showing the image of the city that he had found so long ago. Lights flickered into being over the top of the screen. "See this rapidly moving dot? That's us. We're on our way here, to the crash site of the spaaaa… airship that brought me to this city in the first place."

"If only it hadn't…" A grumble came from one member of the assembled group.

"Brother!"

"Sometimes I consider it – what would have happened had I not showed up. For one, how would you have countered the Zivon?"

"Easy. The Tahtorak. Which I brought to the fight."

"That is true. But the Zivon ran armed. And the Visorak were still able to take your contribution out, albeit due to a sneak attack. If the Visorak horde were not distracted due to Sentinel coverage, you would have had to deal with them on your own. And there were reinforcements inbound, a whole slew of them. Would you have been able to deal with them all, plus the Zivon when the Tahtorak was dropped into the Shadow Zone or whatever it was called?"

Whenua finally spoke up. "The Field of Dark-"

"Yes. Yes, we would have found a way. We don't need any help from strangers-"

"Brother… do you not remember our talk? And what about the Krahka?"

Onewa snorted. "Krahka didn't do much. All she did was coax the Tahtorak up out of the hole it was in – a Toa like me would have gone down myself and wrangled it had she not been there."

Clarke half-raised a hand, fingers half-open. "I'm sorry, what? Krahka? Who's this?"

"Not important-"

"Onewa. You have said enough." Nokama stepped in front of the Toa of Stone, her fin-barb between him and the SPARTAN. "Please, calm yourself before you make this situation worse."

"He was saying-"

"Brother. Please."

There was no audible response from the brown-armored mutated Toa. Just a pure death glare directed at the SIV.  
Nokama returned it with her own, before half-turning towards Clarke. "Continue with your explanation. We will tell you everything later."

For a second, the SPARTAN seemed to be ready to argue the point, but then relaxed. "Riiiight. As I was saying before I was interrupted, we are inbound to the crash site. Once we get there…" He tapped on the dot out to sea, and the wireframe of the main body of the dreadnought popped up next to the map. "We'll enter through this access point here. From what I'm able to discern, the ship still has power, but it's a sorry mess. We'll have to be cautious."

Clarke touched the wireframe and spun it around, zooming in on a section a considerable distance from the access point. "This is the primary engine room… at least, I think it is…"

Onewa re-interjected himself back into the conversation. "You think?"

"No, it's definitely… our destination. This is where the slipspace drive is. Problem is, the hallways leading to it are likely submerged… and the doors in those sections won't open without the water being drained. Having power is both a mercy and a curse – if the power wasn't on, then there would be no problem with these security subroutines. On the other hand, if the power wasn't on, then it would be a right bitch to get through these blast doors."

"I'm not convinced. Why did you need us then?"

"Because slipspace drives are usually friggin' heavy, and I'll probably need assistance carrying it back to the pod. And, if I went down there by myself and got trapped beneath some debris, I'd be SOL."

"Anything else you're not telling us?"

"No. That's it. Just half the ship is completely filled with water, and I really want to get the slipspace drive before the power fails completely. I've looked at the security protocols. Trying to get the drive out without following proper procedures is a downright waste of time and effort."  
The SIV looked at each of the Toa. "Look, I understand. You want to go and do something worthwhile, or something. This is worth it, I promise. And right after we get this drive, and nuke the goddamn worms, I'll throw every asset I have under my control at the Coliseum. We will rescue the Matoran. Together."

Whenua suddenly winced and pulled his injured hand closer to his body. The movement did not go unnoticed.  
"Whenua? What's wrong?"

"It's-"

"His hand must have been injured while he was trying to keep Nuju from falling. He was only able to grab onto our ice-brother's Toa Tool…"

Clarke winced at that, an image of the weapon crossing through his mind, followed by the most likely result of seizing the bladed edge of Nuju's weapon, especially to secure the Hordika in question from plummeting to his unfortunate demise. "Let me see. I'm sure this ship has something on it like a first aid kit… or…"  
He quickly opened the interface device again, scrolling through the options available to him concerning his MJOLNIR GEN2 armor. '_There should be… there!_' Clarke opened up the Regeneration Field armor ability, setting it to primary AA status.  
"Whenua, I may be able to heal you… if you let me."

Onewa growled, low in his throat – but the Earth Hordika simply blinked in confusion.

"It works for humans, at least – it's called a Regeneration Field. Good for minor injuries and damages to armor… here. I'll power it up. Just stick your hand inside the glowing field-"

"What." Onewa started moving in front of Whenua, blocking his approach vector – and with a sudden flare of green light, the Spartan's armor began to give off an aura. Nokama found herself within the outer edge of the field, and immediately fell over… laughing. Onewa moved fast, charging into the field to knock the SIV away – and went down in a tangle of limbs, quickly succumbing to hysterics as well.

Clarke rolled away from the now partially-curled-up Stone Hordika, who was still in the grip of mad laughter. "What the…" He looked down, deactivating the Regen-field ability – and moved towards the other side of the Forerunner craft. Away from Onewa. "What was that about?"

Nokama had finally regained her breath, now being looked over by the mutated Toa of Earth. "T-tingled. It… tingled… all over…"

The Spartan looked down at the interface device again – at the icon representing the Regeneration Field AA. 'Are you shitting – a literal tickle field?'

Onewa was back on his feet quicker than Nokama. Clarke took notice of the fact that the Hordika flexed his previously injured arm once he regained his footing – and he was moving a bit faster than before. Almost as if…

"Nokama, what else did you feel? Aside from the tingles?"

"Relaxation. As if a weight had been removed-"

"As if previous injuries had been healed?"

Nokama blinked… and then nodded acknowledgement.

"Then that settles it. Whenua, extend your hand."

The black-colored Hordika shuffled uncertainly, a hesitant expression crossing his face. Once again, Onewa moved to interdict his passage – and got into the radius of the field. Barely hiding a smile, Clarke's finger tapped the icon – and once again, the Stone Hordika went down.

This time, the SIV walked backwards, taking the field with him and away from the fallen Toa of Stone. "Whenua. Simply put your injured hand in…"

**METRU NUI – TA-METRU DISTRICT  
HORNET ECHO-4831  
EN ROUTE TO SENTINEL FACTORY**

To say that Vakama was incensed would be an understatement. He had been in the process of delivering a sufficient 'No' to the foreign warrior when Nokama had made her own decision. Almost gracefully, she had jumped off the short strut of the Hornet and into the open hatch of the oval-shaped airship. That his pack beta had disobeyed him like that… it was almost too much for the Hordika mentality to comprehend. However, his calculated mind prevailed, and instead of lashing out – he simply ordered Onewa to go with them. If the SPARTAN wanted help, then he would get it.

But what really set him off was what he saw as they flew over Ta-Metru. Off in the distance, the building containing his forge – his workplace as a Matoran – had been completely covered by webs. The Visorak had turned it into yet another one of their accursed spires.

The Hordika side raged within. All he could do was wedge himself as far back as possible and resist the urge to jump off the side of the airship.

In his mind, he continued replaying what he had seen of Le-Metru and Ga-Metru. The Visorak being forced back, the webs and fog burned away, the city beneath coming into clear view again, being repaired…

If the factory were to be repaired and made active again, he would stand more of a chance at reclaiming his old den- his forge.

With that in mind, he restlessly sat back, waiting for the airship to reach its destination.

On the other side of the craft, Nuju held onto the datapad the SIV had given him before they had left on their own mission. Displayed on its surface were schematics for the Sentinel factory – and clear directions to where they were supposed to go to start it back up. Something had obviously captured his interest regarding it, as he clutched it close to his face while tapping on its surface.

**METRU NUI – OPEN SEA  
70 KILOMETERS OFF THE COAST OF GA-METRU  
HOLDING POSITION NEAR LOCATION OF CRASH SITE**

"We are… ready to dive now, Winona. If I don't return, Staff Sergeant Nathan Altfield is in charge. Make sure that Martinez lives to see trial, though."

"_Affirmative, Lieutenant. Delta-Eleven is ready to deploy now, and Hotel-Two-Five-Nine is being re-armed._"

"Copy that. Tell them I said Godspeed. Over."

"_Acknowledged. Sending the underwater modification program to you now._"

"And I confirm I have received the modification program, and is being enabled... now."

As he finished speaking, the pod's outward shape changed, becoming more angular at its bow. The engines increased in size, losing their energy thrusters in favor of large hardlight propellers. The craft hit the water with a resounding splash, bobbed a bit, and began to sink as the weight increased.  
"Winona, we are beginning our descent. Feel free to prepare some ordnance to carry the drive when we bring it back. I have a feeling that we may be cutting it a bit close."

"_Understood. Delta-Eleven is away._"

"I copy. Out."

"How many of you are in Metru Nui, anyway?" Surprisingly enough, it was Whenua that asked that, flexing his healed hand.

"Six. Corporal Blake, Staff Sergeant Altfield, Lieutenant Plotz, Martinez, and I. And, of course, Winona… who is technically a fragment of Aeona, but still counts as an individual."

"So, your own Toa Team?"

"Oh, no. They are _not_ Fireteam Apex – hell, I can only actually trust three of them. Plotz is a cowboy that just found out that his war buddy is a goddamned psychopath, and Martinez is said goddamned psychopath that is currently locked up in a secure room. Say what I will about Onewa, at least he hasn't actually attempted to kill me yet. Martinez has. Three times, already. Maybe even four." The SIV waved his hand, as if trying to brush something away from him.

"Nah, if APEX were here, you would know. It would be pretty damn obvious." He smirked. "Two minutes out."

A school of fish flitted past the impromptu submarine as it descended – followed by a wicked-looking shark. The large Rahi began to close with the sub, opening its mouth to take an inquisitive bite – and promptly collided with the energy shield protecting the outer surface. The shark was propelled backwards, away from the pod. It swam in circles for a while, re-orienting itself – and then promptly moved off to find some other place for hunting.

"One minute out. Beginning scans, attempting to find the hull access point." A few seconds passed by. "Holy shi- that's one hell of a fish!"

A flourish across the interface device resulted in another image opening – this time showing the sensor returns regarding the crashed ship.  
Apparently, something had been swimming in the area when it had come down – and that particular specimen of marine fauna had tried to take a bite out of the dreadnought as it sunk. Instead, the sheer bulk of the craft had carried the enormous creature down with it, and when it hit the seafloor… the fish had been caught between the ship and the ground.

With the front of the ship wedged in the creature's mouth – and that being the point of impact – the fish's head couldn't handle the weight. Already, there were over a hundred shark-like animals tearing at the carcass – and were those lizards with treads for feet?

Behind him, Nokama took a deep breath. "The Dweller… it's dead."

"You _know_ of that thing?"

The Water Hordika shook her head, as if attempting to clear it. "Partially. It tried to eat me once."

"And apparently it tried to eat my ship, too. Guess it finally attempted to bite off more than it could chew, and suffered the consequences."

A chime sounded on the console. Access point found. Clarke half-smiled, and tapped out the necessary commands to guide the pod in.  
"We'll be arriving soon. Once we dock, it should be a quick sprint to the bridge – and from there, one of us can re-activate some systems and drain some of the water blocking our path-"

Onewa immediately objected. "If you think that you'll be the one staying near this water-ship while the rest of us go on ahead-"

"Oh, no, not at all. That's Whenua's job."

Both Nokama and Onewa glanced at the Earth Hordika. Two seconds passed – and then it sunk in. "Wait, what? Why me?"

"Because I'll be needing Nokama's help later on, and I sure as hell ain't trusting Onewa at the helm of a dreadnought, even one as shattered and wrecked as this. Plus, you're good with numbers, correct?"

"Ah-"

"Good. Glad to know I could count on you. Now, one last thing…" Clarke stood up and made his way to the back of the makeshift sub as it latched onto the access point. A few taps on his interface device opened another compartment, which he reached into and pulled out his M395 DMR. Slamming a magazine into its slot, he clicked it into position on his thigh mag-holster – temporarily – and leaned in for yet another device.

The Z-390.

**METRU NUI – PO-METRU DISTRICT  
LONGSWORD DELTA-11**

Flames burst up from a hole as yet another incendiary bomb found its mark. Once again, the ground broke apart as the worms flooded to the surface in an attempt to escape the fire – and were met with a second incendiary device.

"Direct hit!"

Winona's new bombs were just as effective as the official ordnance he had used before, if not more. For something that was apparently not programmed for offensive tasks, she sure had one hell of a dangerous mind.

In the distance, Staff Sergeant Altfield could see the fires raging. The firebreak – so close to going out and being breached – was now burning stronger than ever. And still, it wasn't enough.

But until the Spartan returned with the slipspace bomb, he would have to do the best he could. Steeling his mind, the Longsword pilot hit the controls to release another bomb.

**DAMAGED FORERUNNER DREADNOUGHT  
ACCESS POINT**

"Why are you armed like that?" Whenua asked from behind the Spartan as he took his first step back onboard the vessel that had brought him to this planet.

"Because, well, I feel safer with my own weaponry." Clarke sighed, before continuing on. "And because it just occurred to me that there just may be some not-very-nice individuals on this ship. Like the Covenant."

Both Nokama and Whenua started looking around warily. Onewa, however, was a bit slow on the uptake. "Who are-"

"Nokama probably has explained it to you, judging by Whenua's reaction… basically a collection of al- different species that declared a holy war of extinction upon humanity, killed more than twenty billion of us in cold blood, and very nearly succeeded."

Onewa snorted. "Why would they be-"

"Because they tried to take this ship for themselves. APEX stopped them, but I couldn't fully secure this particular warship before… well…"

'And you didn't even bother checking for their presence in the first place, you dumbass…'

Clarke waved his arm forward. "The sooner we start moving, the sooner we can get off this wreck. Let's go."

**EIGHT MINUTES LATER **

"We should be nearly there…"

"You said that three times already!"

"Quiet! Remember what I said about the Covenant?"

"How do we even know you're telling the truth? The Covenant could be-"

"I'm going to interrupt you right there before you say something monumentally stupid, brick-head."

Whenua sighed. "Can't you two get along for at least an hour before arguing again?"

"Chances of that happening are likely the same as Sidorak simply surrendering the Matoran to us, or if those worm-Rahi only want a hug and a pat on the back."

Lieutenant Clarke abruptly stopped and turned to face the particularly solid wall, devoid of even the slightest decoration. "And we're here."

"How do you... it's a wall! There's no seams-"

"Of course there isn't. Cover me, I'll get it open."  
The SIV raised his arm and began tapping out a sequence on his interface device.

Less than a minute later, the section of wall flared orange, revealing some kind of reinforced hatch behind it. Onewa and Whenua rapidly stepped back, with the Stone Hordika's Rhotuka launcher whirring to life.

"Hold fire! It's just a hardlight barrier!"

Onewa growled yet again, but shut down the charging launcher. His compatriots glanced at him, before directing their gazes back to the sealed doorway.

"That's odd... there's no security protocols here. Door's not even lock-"  
The door shifted, the center section retracting into the floor while the left and right portions slid to their respective sides... revealing a squat, reptilian-esque creature.

"WAAAH! DEMON!" The Imperial Grunt shrieked, grasping two plasma grenades from its belt and running at the SPARTAN. With a fluid motion, Clarke twisted his arm downwards and activated the hardlight shield, charging forward at the same time.

The grenades armed, becoming twin points of blue fire – and then the Unggoy impacted the shield.  
The integrated repulsor field activated, and the Grunt went skittering across the room, disappearing in a single blaze of blue energy halfway across.

A few seconds passed. No other contacts appeared on motion tracker, and a sweep of the room with Promethean Vision-enhanced VISR revealed no more enemies. "Room clear!"

"Mata Nui! What was that?"

"That? That was a Grunt. The lowliest species in the Covenant, used as cannon fodder. Some of them are cowardly… but the majority of the Storm Grunts are devoted little buggers. This one here tried to blow me up – and if I didn't have this shield here, he would have likely succeeded."

"The Covenant… they're all like that?"

"They get more vicious the higher up you go on the caste system. Next up are Jackals, which are downright carnivorous bastards. Look like dromeosaurs, if you know what those are. Elites are just as bad, though at least they won't eat you after they're done killing you. Then there's the Mgalekgolo, or 'Hunters', which are essentially summed up as walking tanks... Elites lead the Covenant, or at least this specific group of them…"

Onewa shuddered. "First we have to deal with the Visorak. Then carnivorous worm-Rahi that swarm all over the place. Now… these. We Toa can never really catch a break…"

"And so you have just met Murphy. Or, at least, one incarnation of him."

"Murph-"

Nokama abruptly interjected. "So, what now?"

"Well, now that it's confirmed that the Covenant are here, I can't exactly leave Whenua on his own… Onewa, you're going to have to stay here with him."

"What? And leave Nokama alone-"

"I will not allow anything to happen to her, on that I give my vow of honor-"

"Forget it! I'm coming with you two!"

"Urrgh! Can't you just-" Clarke paused, taking a deep breath, his head lowering in grudging acceptance. "Fine. I'll see if I can't trigger a security lockdown for this area, seal the hatches to the bridge, but there's nothing stopping the Covenant from cutting through. Whenua, you'll have to be on your own, since your teammate is being a stubborn idiot."

Ignoring any sounds of complaint, the human soldier approached the main console, putting the interface device into synchronization mode. As he hoped, the control surface powered up – '_Yes, still has power!_' – and the entire room did the same.  
"Stand by, this should take a few… oh hell…" The sheer complexity of the systems within the vessel's mainframe was already beginning to make his head hurt, and the last thing he should do would be to start pressing the Hardlight display randomly. '_If only Aeona were here…_'

There, the tab marked '**STATUS UPDATE'**. That could be a great starting point. He pressed it.

PRIMARY POWER - OFFLINE  
PRIMARY ENGINES - DESTROYED  
SECONDARY ENGINES - OFFLINE  
LIFE SUPPORT - 31 PERCENT ACTIVE  
PRIMARY SHIELDING - OFFLINE  
HYDROPONICS - DESTROYED  
SECONDARY SHIELDING - OFFLINE  
AUX POWER - 46% ACTIVE  
HULL BREACHES ON DECKS ONE THROUGH FOUR HUNDRED AND EIGHTY TWO  
INTERIOR OF VESSEL 68% FILLED WITH UNKNOWN LIQUID  
FOREIGN LIFE FORMS DETECTED ON VESSEL  
ONE HUMAN  
THREE UNKNOWN  
SEVENTY SIX SANGHEILI  
EIGHT MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND SEVENTY NINE LEKGOLO  
ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-SIX UNGGOY  
TWENTY SIX YANME  
ONE SHARQUOI

"The hell is a Sharquoi?" The SPARTAN fumbled with the interface device, scrolling through the list of options in the command menu, looking for something along the lines of a damned search function. Above, a section of the display shifted.

CORRECTION: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE UNGGOY  
CORRECTION: ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TW-  
CORRECTION: ONE HUNDRED AN-  
CORRECTION: ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN UNGGOY

'**SCHEMATICS**'

'_Good enough,_' he thought to himself, slapping the option. A hardlight display of the ship coalesced forward of the main command console.

"Well. Shit." The dreadnought was still filling up with water through multiple hull breaches. As he suspected after reading the status update, a large section of the port side of the ship had been cut open, most likely from the left wing structure coming loose from the craft.

The problem arose when he looked at the hallways leading to the slipspace core. Nearly all of them were flooded - as he expected - and the single one that was not were jammed full of Covenant. Main engineering was apparently their command post, which meant that any kind of fight breaking out in the translight chamber would bring almost every single Covie down on their heads with near single-minded ferocity.

He blinked, staring at a large blinking dot in an adjacent room connected to the slipspace drive chamber. Now what the hell was _that_?  
He poked it on the interface device, and a wireframe representation popped up next to it. "What the hell is that?"

It was damned ugly, with an appearance not unlike some sort of Brute and Hunter crossbreed, mixed with hints of Guta and a goddamned tyrannosaur. A small portion of his mind immediately packed up and noped out, heading back to Wingbase with all haste. And that was even without reading the accompanying description, which seemed to continuously repeat various iterations of phrases that could easily be summed up as 'very freaking dangerous'. And if the _Forerunners_ marked it down in their database as dangerous...

"What's taking so long?"

"The system is exceedingly complex! Plus, I was right, there's an entire army of asshole Covies on this ship, including this thing!" He backed away to let the group see it.

"So? I've seen worse Rahi than that! I've fought worse Rahi than that!"

"Tell you what, we run across this thing, and I'll let you fight it on your own." He turned back. "Now as for that lockdown…"

CORRECTION: ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN UNGGOY


End file.
